


Perfect Standards

by ongnielhater



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: 24!Zayn, 24!liam, 6!Niall, Angst with a Happy Ending, But it's 12 years ago, Hollywood, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Build, Top!Liam, abused!Zayn, actor!Liam, bottom!Zayn, bullied!liam, bully!zayn, hurt!zayn, kinda asshole!Liam, one-sided Simon/Zayn, stuntman!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:41:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 23
Words: 42,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6204634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ongnielhater/pseuds/ongnielhater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn Malik has been working as a stuntman for the last five years of his life. He coincidentally meets Liam Payne, the Hollywood superstar, on the film set they are working together. However, Liam always gives Zayn a cold shoulder with no clear reasons. Little does Zayn know that Liam is the kid he used to bully twelve years ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PROLOGUE. Dark Alley, Dark Skin, Dark Hair.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is originally inspired by “Payback is a Bitch” by Mangolie. After several months not seeing any updates from her, I heard some very sad news about her well-being. I liked her work a lot, but unfortunately that maybe it would not be updated anymore. I’m writing this story in honor to her and to complete the story in my own verse.

**_12 years ago._ **

 

_In the dark alley, the chubby brown-haired kid tried to run away from his bullies as fast as he could, but he knew he could not manage to get out of there in one piece as he tripped and stumbled down on the ground. The kid groaned in pain when he realized the pain was sharpening on his knees and ankles._

_“Oh, little Lily just fall down on his big fat butt guys! Let’s go help him.” The dark-haired boy chuckled and lazily approached the chubby kid, who was lying face down on the ground. His two other friends laughed it off and walked towards their prey._

_“Fuck off, Malik! And my name is Liam! I didn’t do anything to offense you, why do you keep attacking me?” Liam shouted and tried to get on the sitting position, his tears were about to spill out sooner or later because of the burning pain on his legs._

_“Shut up, little pig! You’re weak and stupid and fat, that’s what bothering me.” Malik, with his glowing dark skin, grinned and kicked Liam on the chest. The latter moaned and grasped the fabric on his chest as if to ease the newly formed pain._

_Liam did not have any more time to calm himself down after being kicked by Malik, because two other bullies continued to hurt him until his face was covered in blood, sweat, and tears._

_That was not the first time those bullies attacked Liam, but it was the last time they could hurt him like that. Liam knew it, because his family was going to move to Los Angeles tomorrow._

_“I’ll fucking take my revenge on you someday, Zayn Malik!” That was what Liam was thinking as he saw the torturer of his childhood, Malik, just stood there, crossed his arms, and watched the scene through his piercing golden eyes._

 

_…_

 

_ _


	2. Reunion, Is It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Zayn's first encounter after twelve years apart. Liam recognizes Zayn right away, but the latter seems to be oblivious about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your kind words. This is the first chapter of the story.  
> Also, I have to apologize in advance. I'm not a native English speaker and I don't have a beta-reader so of course you'll find a lot of flaws in this story.  
> Please bear with me though!

Today, Zayn will be the stunt double for Louis Tomlinson, a British Hollywood actor who is quite popular these days. Zayn is in the dressing room, waiting for his turn to do what he does for a living in the past five years. Zayn’s short raven hair has been covered by a blond wig, his skin is powdered with light color, and his lean muscled body is also dressed up with the same outfit as Tomlinson’s. Now, if people look at Zayn from behind, they might confuse him with the actor he does stunt for. It’s a good thing though.

“The man of the hour, Liam Payne, is already here. You guys had better be hurry if you don’t want the _Payne_ to get into your ass. He’s known to be pretty rude and hot-headed if the film set is messy and not prepared well enough.” A staff member walks into the dressing room and hurries anyone who is sitting to stand up and start doing their jobs more seriously.

Zayn stands up and walks towards the entrance leading to the film set right after he hears Liam’s name being mentioned. Once Zayn is in the set, he looks around to find Louis Tomlinson, but before he spots his target, he sees the one and only Liam Payne standing next to the director. Zayn raises his eyebrows in admiration when he observes Liam. In real life, Liam looks even more masculine and handsome than in some magazine covers Zayn has seen before, though those puppy looks on his face still cannot be ignored.

Before signing up to do stunt for Louis Tomlinson, Zayn has already been informed that Liam Payne, the superstar of Hollywood action movies recently, will play the main character of the movie. Normally, Zayn does not care about celebrities, so he does not put any efforts in finding stuff about Liam Payne. However, Zayn has acquaintance with some people in the industry, so he overhears about the superstar quite often during the conversations. That’s why Zayn is aware of some stuff about Liam Payne.

According to the information Zayn heard sometimes ago, Liam had been acting in school dramas and musical acts since he was thirteen. At the age of seventeen, Liam started his professional career in acting after his recent manager discovered his talents and signed him up for a small debut role in a Hollywood blockbuster called _Drag Me Down_. That film was a hit and made Liam’s name cover most of the Hollywood articles in just a few weeks. So now, Liam Payne is very popular and loved due to his friendliness, his true talents, and maybe his abs.

The superstar practices kick-boxing five days a week so his body is quite muscular, his skin also gets some very attractive tan because he runs almost every morning. Zayn is a little bit jealous of Liam Payne because he has been working out quite a long time and still hasn’t got those six-pack abs like Liam’s.

Even though Zayn is standing far away from Liam and the director, he is aware that two of them are having an important conversation due to the furrowed brows on Liam’s handsome face. Maybe Zayn will wait for a chance to meet Liam later, they’ve got the whole day on set.

“Malik, come here! We’ve got a lot of scenes to film today. Now go to that podium, and we’ll give you a signal once it’s time to jump off of it.” Director assistant, Michael, orders Zayn while pointing to the highest podium which will be CGI to become a three-floor building on screen.

Zayn has been on set four hours ago so that the costume designer and make-up artist can dress him up to look just like Louis Tomlinson, the actor he will stunt for during the two-month filming process. Zayn has already finished reading the scenes he needs to do today and remembers all of them. So  now he is confident that his scenes will not be filmed more than twice, because he’s good at doing stunts and he looks just like Louis Tomlinson’s doppelganger.

After about ten minutes, the main director, Simon Cowell, signals everyone to get in their position. When the cameraman is ready, another staff member claps two hinged sticks together in front of the camera to start filming the first scene of the day. Once he sees Cowell’s signal, Zayn jumps off the podium and lands on the thick mattress on the ground. His ankles are hurt a bit because he stumbles a bit when he lands, but they are still good enough for him to continue the job. The director is satisfied with the first scene, so he doesn’t ask Zayn to do it again.

“I don’t think it’s okay. The stuntman has some problems with the landing, it makes his position not good enough if it’s on screen.” Liam _the_ Payne gives a cold speech in front of the whole set, which makes Zayn can’t help but furrow his eyebrows together.

“Yeah, right. Malik did struggle with the landing but I think it’s okay.” Director Cowell looks at Liam with concerns.

“I want it to be perfect. Don’t just pass every mistake because you want to go home sooner.” Liam’s attitude really is a bit stony right now, but everyone knows that he acts like that because he wants it to be a good movie.

“Okay. We’ll film it again. Malik, hurry and get up there. Let’s make it perfect so we don’t have to refilm it ever again.” Cowell orders, Zayn just does as he’s told without saying anything.

While Zayn is going up to the podium, he unintentionally sees Liam’s angry look eyes him on the way. At first, Zayn thinks he just imagines it, but when he’s already stood at the top of the podium, Liam’s eyes still stick with him and it makes him shiver a bit. What the hell is wrong with that Liam Payne?

“Okay, Malik. You will jump in three...two...one!” Director Cowell signals together with the sound of the clapperboard.

Zayn jumps off the podium again. This time, he manages not to stumble as landing. The scene is flawless in front of Liam Payne’s eyes so he cannot protest or ask the director to make Zayn do the stunt again. It’s just an unconscious act when Zayn smirks at Liam’s squinted eyes, but right after Zayn realizes what he’s just done, he feels regret because Liam’s look becomes even more penetrating and formidable towards him. The puppy-eyed guy platonically dislikes him.

Zayn still has six more scenes to do after the first one, not to mention several scenes he has to redo as Liam Payne’s requests. Therefore, once Zayn’s parts have been wrapped up, he’s totally exhausted and falls asleep on the couch in the dressing room.

It takes more than ten hours to call it a day on set. At the end, everyone is out of energy and no longer has the enthusiasm like they had at the beginning of the day. It’s understandable though, so no one complains anything. Well, except for Liam Payne. He keeps complaining about how the staff doesn’t pay enough attention during the shootings; how the stuntman, a.k.a Zayn Malik, has no respect for him; and so on. Director Cowell is accustomed to hearing Liam’s relentless craps, but today the star bewailing even more than usual.

“The fuck’s your problem, Liam? You keep blaming everything on everyone like an old lady. I know you care about the productivity and quality of the film, but you were demanding excessively over everything on today’s set. Now, I’m having a headache because of you.” Simon Cowell lowers his head and holds it with both of his hands.

“I’m not excessive. It’s just everything’s not good enough.” Liam sits on the chair next to the director, arms crossed in front of his firm chest.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve been working with you since your debut film. I know your style. Something’s bothering you and you put it on us.”

“I didn’t.” Liam protests, eyes squinting.

“Oh and those furrowed brows and squinted eyes. You did all those things way too much today. Don’t even tell me you’re okay. Your look shows that you wanna’ castrate someone.”

“I’ll no longer be involved in this stupid convo. Good night, Simon.” Liam just leaves after finishing the sentence. All Simon can do is to yell a “Night, Liam!” from behind the angry Hollywood star.

Once Liam gets out of the film set, he walks straight to the dressing room to change his heavy costumes. He startles a bit as he enters the room though, Zayn Malik is sleeping on the couch next to the closet where Liam keeps his clothes. No one is here anymore because most of them have already gone home, some are still cleaning up the film set. Normally, Liam has his own dressing room, but because the crew has just moved the location so they still haven’t had enough rooms for extra uses.

Liam still can’t believe it. Even though Liam cannot forgive Zayn Malik, but he never tries to find him. Then suddenly, Liam meets his bully on the film set. It’s like a dream comes true. Liam’s been dreaming of torturing Zayn Malik in every way possible for more than twelve years. And now, Zayn appears right in front of him, thinner and more fragile than what he has always imagined about him since their last encounter. Liam’s always presumed that Zayn must be big and strong or something like that, but now when they finally meet again, Liam’s surprised at how small and poor Zayn is in comparison to him, which is very intriguing.

At least, there’s something that has never changed about Zayn Malik, it’s his beauty. Liam doesn’t want to admit it, but Zayn really is fucking gorgeous, just like twelve years ago. It’s a little bit weird because Zayn becomes a stuntman instead of a model or an actor. The dark boy could have gone far with a perfect face like that. Liam’s also satisfied about the fact that Zayn doesn’t seem to recognize him, while he almost falls down a chair when he looks at Zayn’s familiar golden eyes.

Standing in front of the couch, looking directly at Zayn Malik’s clean-shaven face, the urge to crush the raven haired man’s head keeps growing inside Liam relentlessly. Nonetheless, it’s not something Liam can do as a famous Hollywood movie star. People will badmouth about him if he literally kills Zayn Malik. Maybe Liam should save it for later. He asks Simon already, Zayn Malik will do stunts for Louis Tomlinson in at least two more months, so he has tons of time to plan his revenge on this former bully. Liam will make Zayn suffer even more than what the latter did to him twelve years ago.

**…  
**


	3. The Past Will Always Haunt You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn has a son, but it's not that simple. Liam's firing up. Zayn thinks of Lily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work in progress, and I'm in my graduation internship so maybe I won't be able to update regularly. For the love of Ziam I'll keep working on this whenever I'm free.  
> Perry's mentioned, in a negative way. But it's because I need a character for that role, so I'm sorry in advance if someone doesn't like it.  
> Cheers.

It’s almost midnight when Zayn hears someone calling his name. A hand touches his shoulder and squeezes it gently. When Zayn opens his eyes, Director Cowell’s worried expression appears from above him. Zayn gets up slowly and rubs his sleepy eyes with both hands.

“You okay, Malik? Go home and get some sleep. It’s getting cold here.” Cowell tells Zayn while he still keeps an eye on the tired man.

“Sorry for bothering you. I’ll leave now.” Zayn quickly gets on his legs and walks towards the closet to put on his black leather jacket.

“Liam was harsh with you today. Maybe he’s in a bad mood. Don’t mind it, okay? You did great.” As if recognizing what makes Zayn uneasy, Cowell gives him some words of encouragement.

“It’s okay. I used to work with people who demanded more than that. I’m used to it so don’t worry about me, director.” Zayn gives the older man a weak smile before saying good bye and leaving the room.

Once Zayn steps out of the building, the chilling wind overtakes his whole body. Now he’s shivering, his teeth are clenched together to put up with the cold. Zayn often walks home, today’s not an exception. Not that Zayn enjoys walking after several exhausting working hours, it’s because he cannot afford to take a cab home every day, and it’s hard to take a public transportation at this late hour.

It takes Zayn more than an hour to get home. Zayn enters the small and tidy apartment just to see his six-year-old son sleeping on the couch, the boy curves into a ball as if to keep his body warm. Zayn knows the boy has been waiting for him, he does it every time Zayn goes home late. As a father, Zayn always feels guilty and useless as he regularly lets his son alone at home. In the morning, Zayn waits for his boy to get into the school-bus before going to work. However, Zayn’s rarely at home when his son finishes school. So his boy ends up being home alone every afternoon until his daddy comes home.

“Niall, wake up! Go to bed.” Zayn shakes the blonde boy. The kid slowly opens his eyes to look at the one calling his name.

“You’re home, Zapi!” Niall sleepily exclaims in excitement when he realizes Zayn, which makes the older man can’t help but grins.

“Yeah, I’m home. So now you should go get a proper sleep in bed.” Zayn rubbing Niall’s messy blonde hair and helping the six-year-old sit up on the couch. When Niall still refuses to get up properly, Zayn smiles then decides to carry his sleepy son to bed.

“The landlord asked me where you were.” The blonde boy tells Zayn as his eyes still closing, his head rubbing between the raven-haired man’s neck and shoulder.

“Yeah? Maybe he asked for the rent, I’ll pay him in the morning.” Zayn tries not to sound too burdensome, he doesn’t want the young boy to feel bad about their situation at the moment.

Zayn cannot afford enough money this month, so they’re in a financial shortage right now. With this stunt job, Zayn should be able to earn enough and even some extra money to take care of himself and his boy, but every month he has to pay the debt which is originally not his.

Four years ago, Zayn’s ex-girlfriend, Perry, left the city to start a new life. She left not only her huge debt from gambling for Zayn to take care of, but also her own two-year-old son, Niall. Zayn’s friends accused him of being stupid when he took Niall in because the kid wasn’t his biological son. Everyone could say it once they saw the difference between Zayn’s and Niall’s skin tone. The kid was actually the result of Perry and some guy she cheating with when she was dating and living in the same apartment as Zayn.

Even though Zayn knew Niall wasn’t his biological son, he still wanted to take care of the boy, especially when the kid was left alone in front of his apartment’s door with nothing but tiny clothes on his skinny two-year-old body. Zayn was angry, actually, when he could never ever imagine a mother could leave her vulnerable child in front of someone’s door at midnight and run away from her responsibilities. If Zayn sees Perry again, he’ll never let her come near Niall.

That’s the story to explain why Zayn’s always in short of money.

There used to be some rainy days when Zayn couldn’t afford to pay the monthly interest, the cruel lenders beat him up badly and even threatened to hurt Niall. Zayn cannot let those cruel things happen to Niall, so he always tries his best to pay enough money to the lenders. A few days ago, Zayn paid every penny he’d earned this month to the lenders, now he only has enough money to buy food.

Once Zayn’s put Niall to bed, he turns off all the lights in their small apartment and goes to his room.  


…

 

Just like yesterday, Liam Payne’s still looking like he’s about to smash anyone’s head if they are stupid enough to intrigue him. Liam’s friendly, no doubt about it, but he’s also known to be extremely unpleasant and irritating if he’s mad. Right now, nobody has any ideas about why the Payne’s so grumpy, except for Simon Cowell.

“He’s late.” Liam states, eyes looking directly at the entrance of the film set.

“We’ve been calling him a few times. He’s already in the dressing room getting makeup done. The traffic’s always bad at this early hour in the morning so he cannot take the subway he needs on time.” Director Cowell explains to Liam what’s happening with their stuntman, Zayn Malik.

“He’s still late.” The brown-haired superstar stares at the director, his forehead looks like a wrinkled paper.

“Come on, it’s only ten minutes. It’s not really that bad.” Cowell sighs in annoyance. He tries to keep his focus on something else rather than Liam Payne’s irritating face but fails miserably because Liam’s voice is covering the space they’re sharing.

“You should decrease his wage to teach him a lesson, Simon.” Liam starts walking around as if he’s losing his patience on waiting for Zayn Malik.

“You know what, Liam? Sometimes, I think you’re an ass. Don’t make such a big deal on Malik’s tardiness.” Simon turns his spinning chair to look directly at Liam. “I’ve known the kid for more than a year, he’s rarely late unless there’s something happens on the way.”

“Can’t you stop defending his ass? Or you want it for yourself?” Payne’s harsh words really get into Cowell’s skin, so there’s no holding back anymore.

“What’re you thinking, Liam Payne? A superstar getting discovered by _my_ agent, becoming famous, and now standing up against _me_? Without us you’re nothing, Payne! So watch your mouth!” The director jolts up from his seat and closes the distance between his and Liam’s face.

The staff members start staring at the two men who are exploding at each other, their eyes wide open in confusion and astonishment. Just two days on set, the director and the main actor start firing up each other’s throat, all because of a stuntman named Zayn Malik. What will they think if they acknowledge of this nonsense? After some thoughtful thinking, Cowell lowers his head, squints his eyes, and backs off with both hands surrender on chest level. They’ve befriended for five years now, Cowell cannot let this crap makes things tense between him and Liam.

“Stop this right now, Liam. I don’t want us to fight just because of some stupid craps you’re having on your mind.” Cowell comes back to sit on his chair.

Before Liam can open his mouth again to protest, Zayn’s raspy and somewhat clear voice from behind makes him close it.

“Sorry, I’m late. Will we start now?” Zayn asks innocently, not aware of the fact that the two taller and bigger men standing before him have just had a rage minutes ago because of his tardiness.

“Thank you for being so late, stuntman. My precious time’s wasted because some nameless junk like you can’t fucking get up earlier to go to work on time.” With a disgusted smirk on his handsome profile, Liam spits those twisted words into Zayn’s pale one.

The golden-eyed man glares at the Hollywood star in a hurtful surprise. He opens then closes his mouth as if he cannot process what to say after hearing those harsh words from Liam Payne.

“That’s enough, Liam. Both Louis and Zayn are here so let’s get to work.” Director Cowell gently pushes Liam’s chest to keep him away from the dark-skinned young man. “Zayn, go to work, ignore this brat.” Cowell gestures Zayn to go to the area where they will be filming a fight scene just now.

On the way to the place he’s appointed, Zayn still cannot wear off what Liam Payne’s just spilled all over his face. Zayn knows he’s no one, nothing, but at least no one has ever said those words straight to him like that before. When Liam says those cruel words to his face with those raging brown eyes, Zayn can’t help but being reminded of someone he met in the past, a kid he always called Lily.

Zayn can’t even remember the kid’s real name. No. He doesn’t even know his real name. Zayn never asked the kid or anyone else about his name because he didn’t care. All Zayn cared about was how fat the kid was, how silly he looked with those ugly glasses, how wooden-headed he looked with his uptight shirt tucked in those short pants. Zayn has to admit he was a stupid bully in the past. He regrets it pretty much now, but he cannot erase those bad memories because the past will always be there no matter what.

Zayn sincerely wants to apologize to Lily, or whatever his name is, but maybe they will never have a chance to encounter again. The kid left London twelve years ago, Zayn also left that place four years later when his parents had an accident and passed away, leaving him all alone.

It’s strange though, when Zayn feels familiar with Liam’s raging eyes. They remind him of Lily a bit. However, Zayn’s sure that Mr. Perfect Liam Payne and Lily can’t be one person. They have nothing in common except for those puppy brown eyes.

 

…


	4. Just a Cold Beer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam finally has a chance to start the first step of his revenge, he also mistakens something about Zayn and Cowell’s relationship. Then, Simon's invited to Zayn's apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've tried to update yesterday but seriously I'm too exhausted. So now I make it up for you guys by writing it longer than usual.  
> Actually, I have other stories written in my native language, all of them are like 10,000 words for each chapter. I really want to write this story longer but it hurts my brain to keep on writing in a different language while trying to cope it with my own tone without losing the intention for each sentence.  
> Anyway, thanks for all of your support!  
> Cheers. :)

The cameras and all other technical equipment are ready. Louis Tomlinson is standing next to director Cowell outside to enjoy the view when both Liam and Zayn are inside the fight scene area. The reason Liam’s in the filming area with Zayn is because the superstar dislikes the thought of having someone else playing his role when he can handle it himself. Liam assumes only the actors who doesn’t know how to fight or are too scared of getting hurt would hire someone to be their stunt double. Liam works out and does a lot of training so he’s capable of preventing himself from getting injured. Liam will only agree to hire a stuntman if the scenes are too dangerous for him to do it on his own.

So right now, Liam’s going to fight with Louis’ character who is being played by Zayn Malik, which is what Liam has longed for. When the signal starts, Liam and Zayn start moving around each other like two predators testing the water before jumping in to fight their opponent. Cowell gestures Zayn to throw the first punch and the latter does so. Liam knows exactly what to do next because he has read the script. The Hollywood actor swivels to avoid the hit from his childhood enemy when Zayn violently approaches Liam. Liam really wants to hurt Zayn because the raven-haired man used to hit and kick him a lot when they were kids. However, Liam knows better than that, he will wait just a little bit longer, when it’s officially the time for him to payback.

“Fight back, Liam. And Zayn, try to turn about when he attacks you, only let getting hit after a few more punches.” Cowell directs, both the actor and the stuntman process the information immediately but do not answer or nod because they’re still filming.

After a few more minutes, Zayn finally gets the first hit in the stomach from Liam’s strong hand. The brown-haired man can’t help but grins in satisfaction when Zayn frowns in an expression of agony. Zayn’s job is to take the punch from Liam according to the script, he must comply and let the actor hit him multiple times later, even though his body’s giving up gradually.

In the next act, Liam must get hit by Zayn, and they seem to start fighting for real when Liam gets angry and keeps attacking Zayn one after another punch that makes the stuntman stumble as trying to keep his balance. Cowell has to call off the scene so many times that day because Liam cannot control his ruts. The staff who’s in charge of taking care of Liam has to continuously rushes over to help him fix the messed up makeup and ripped clothes, while Zayn just quietly gets back to his seat and gets something to drink after every scene.

In eight hours, Liam and Zayn have five scenes to work together, and all those scenes end up being refilmed more than twice for each, either because Cowell’s not happy about them or because Liam’s being over enthusiastic during the filming process.

When everything’s finished, the staff starts cleaning and tidying up the film set. Zayn goes to the restroom to straighten up a bit. Cowell appears from behind the closed door just a few seconds later and comes to stand next to the stuntman.

“You okay, Malik?” The director asks with sincerely worried tone in his voice.

“What’s it about?” Zayn asks back, not really understand what Cowell’s referring to.

“Liam threw several unscripted punches at you today. Did you get hurt?” While saying those words, Cowell can’t help himself from raising his hand to touch the forming bruises on Zayn’s sharp cheekbones. Zayn flinches slightly due to the sudden contact, but remains calm after that.

“I’m okay. Getting beat up is what I’m good at.” Zayn finishes washing his hands and dries them with the tissues. The dark-skinned man is now facing the director, his chin is lifted up so the latter can check the seriousness of his wounds.

“Don’t say that. Such a gorgeous face like yours doesn’t deserve these.” The older man declares and turns Zayn’s face to the left to get a better view at his jaw. The stuntman frowns when Cowell accidentally hurts him. Seeing Zayn flinch, Cowell leans in closer to check out the younger man’s messed up face.

“You should get it checked up, seriously. We’re gonna pay for it so don’t worry about the money.” Director Cowell is about to finish off when someone enters the restroom.

Liam Payne is now standing dumbfounded when he spots Simon Cowell standing at a close proximity to Zayn Malik, caressing his face as if they’re about to kiss anytime soon.

“Wow! Didn’t know you’re into guys before, Simon. Can’t blame it though, the guy’s got an intoxicating ass, it’s a shame if you don’t crave for it. But it’s sad when you always put him first before me.” Liam chuckles in disgust and crosses his arms together. Anyone can tell the alpha male’s scent is all around him.

“What? It’s not what you think, Liam. I’m checking Zayn’s bruises. You’re the one who left these on his face.” Cowell detests and backs away from Zayn slowly.

“Whatever. Your lustful look when you look at him is bright like a sunshine, so don’t deny it anymore.”

Tired of being insulted by Liam, Zayn quickly moves around him to get out of the restroom. However, before Zayn can surpass Liam, the actor grasps his arm and throws him back so that they can stand face-to-face with each other.

“The hell do you want from me, Liam Payne?” Zayn growls angrily because he can no longer take Liam’s arrogant shit.

“I just hate you, that’s all.” Smirks Liam.

“And why’s that?” Zayn squints his eyes and stands straight up.

“Because you fucking bullied me but don’t recognize me, you little shit.” Liam wants to say it out loud so bad but decides to keep it in his mind.

“Why the quiet, Mr. Payne?” Zayn cocks his head and gives Liam a slight chuckle.

“I don’t need to tell you everything, do I?” The menacing tone Liam is using makes Zayn feel intimidated.

“Enough, Liam Payne. Go home.” Cowell shuts Liam and Zayn’s conversation then drags the darker boy out of the restroom, leaving Liam standing there like a giant puppet.

“Yeah, go get a room together.” Liam barks after a few seconds speechless.

 

Cowell drives Zayn home. On their way to Zayn’s home, the younger man rarely says anything unless when being asked. Cowell respects that and stops asking Zayn questions he does not want to answer, until he suddenly thinks about Zayn’s little boy’s well-being.

“How’s your boy, Malik? His name’s Niall, right?”

“Yeah, Niall’s doing alright. Thanks for asking.” Zayn smiles a bit when Cowell makes him think of his son’s adorable face every time Zayn’s home. “Niall’s not home tonight though, he went to a campfire with his school. He’s been waiting for it the last whole week.”

“Hope the kid has his fun.” The director says with a small grin on his face.

Then the silence comes again, for at least five minutes.

“About what Liam said, back at the film set. Do you mind it?” Cowell finally spits what he’s been keeping in his head for almost half an hour.

“You’re the one who told me not to give a crap about what that dickhead said, and now you let that bother you?” Zayn lazily leans his head on the window car as he half jokes about the matter Cowell’s mentioning.

“I just--, never mind.”

When Cowell’s car pulls aside Zayn’s apartment, the younger man steps out but then bends over the window car as if he has something to tell Cowell.

“I was just thinking that I’d say thank you to you and then took off, but uh--, do you want to have a drink at my place? I don’t have much but I figured out you drink cold beer and I fortunately have that in my apartment.” Zayn proposes clumsily with a shy smile on his gorgeous face, which triggers the older man to grin widely and nods in agreement.

“Okay, that’d be great.”

A few minutes later, both Zayn and Cowell are now inside the dark-skinned man’s tiny but tidy apartment. Cowell takes a look inside the place because this is his first time being here, even though he’s quite close to Zayn.

“Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. I’m gonna’ go get a beer.” Zayn says on his way to the kitchen right beside the living room, where he’s keeping the fridge.

Simon is relaxing and stretching his legs when Zayn gets back with a six pack of cold beer on his hand.

“It’s been a while since the last time I had a beer at home. Niall’s always there so I have to be a decent dad and can’t drink alcohol in front of him.” Zayn admits as sitting on the couch next to Cowell.

“You’re a good father, Malik.”

“Please, call me Zayn. We’ve known each other for a year and you still call me by my last name?” Zayn suggests and Cowell nods in compliance.

“Okay, Zayn.”

The two men keep talking for awhile until all the beer cans are wasted. Zayn does not recognize that he alone has been drinking five out of six cans of beer, while Cowell just holds his beer and watches the younger man’s Adam’s apple move every time he gulps down his beer.

Cowell has never married before. Whenever people ask, he tells them that he isn’t ready to settle down yet. However, the real reason is, he’s into men, young and beautiful men like Zayn Malik. Cowell will never come out though, he’s too scared that his family won’t accept it, he’s cared that his friends and colleague will despite him. But there is something about Zayn that makes Cowell finding it too hard to hide his true self. Even the ignorant Hollywood superstar like Liam Payne takes notice of his feelings towards Zayn, Cowell is so in trouble now.

“What’s it, Simon?” Zayn asks when he loses his patience over the fact that Cowell has been staring at him for the last five minutes.

“Huh?” Cowell startles.

“You have something to say?” God damn it. The way Zayn’s hair is flopping down on his forehead, and the slurring sounds of his drunken voice is so attractive and alluring. Cowell just wants to lean in and pin Zayn on the couch and fuck him right now.

“Nope.” Cowell manages to say out loud.

“But you keep staring at me for a while now.”

“I’m just...thinking about some random stuff.” Zayn doesn’t ask anymore, he continues to drink his cooling off beer when both men talking about some other topics.

When Zayn passes out during the conversation, Cowell is not surprise at all. The older man has been waiting for Zayn to be unconscious so that he can take his chance to observe the beauty completely.

“Zayn!” Cowell pretends to call the younger man, he’s happy because the latter doesn’t answer, or couldn’t answer.

Slowly, Cowell gets up his feet and carries Zayn to his bedroom. He’s been observing the place so he knows where the bedroom is. Zayn doesn’t even move an inch when Cowell gets him to bed and puts him down. The director really wants to have Zayn for his own, but he knows Zayn’s going to wake up in the morning and finds out he’d touched him when he was sleeping. So, instead of taking Zayn, Cowell just tastes the man’s pulsing lips by his mouth, while his hands run down Zayn’s lean muscled body, memorizing the feeling of his soft dark skin.

Cowell takes a step further as he pulls Zayn’s member out of his pants and brief boxers and sucks it. Even when he’s unconscious, Zayn still can feel someone doing something weird to him, that’s why he flinches and moans quietly. Cowell is lucky as Zayn’s too drunk to wake up anytime soon. Zayn comes after a good ten minutes of being sucked by Simon Cowell without acknowledging it. The older man cleans up Zayn’s mess by his own mouth, and he really enjoys the taste of Zayn’s milk on his tongue.

It’s time for another round. Cowell rolls up Zayn’s shirt, he also pulls Zayn’s pants and undies off to have a good view at the almost naked body under him. Then, Cowell turns Zayn’s face and body down on the bed to look at his bare and firm little ass. Cowell restrains the desire to explore Zayn’s ass by taking his own cock out and rubbing it on Zayn’s ass cheek until he comes on the lower of the younger man’s back.

That’s it. Cowell has a complete one hour for himself to taste, touch, and caress Zayn’s whole body any way he wants. Also, Cowell doesn’t forget to clean up everything before leaving. Zayn will never know his respectful director has taken advantage of him after drawing him on drinking a little bit too many cans of beer.

 

…


	5. Lost Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam’s still hating Zayn. Zayn can’t recall what happened last night. Simon’s being manipulative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you anyone who still keeps reading this story. Here's the update.  
> I had a great weekend so I hope you guys did too.  
> Cheers!

Liam goes to work at around eight in the morning and he feels like shit because of a hangover. Yesterday, he did not just go home after work, he went out drinking with some of his friends until two in the morning. It was Harry’s birthday so he couldn’t miss it, the lad would be upset if Liam did not show up.

When Liam is sitting cross legged on the sofa in the so-called public dressing room, he sees Louis’ stuntman enter the room with the kind of face that looks exactly like his at the moment. Liam can address right away that Zayn had been drinking yesterday, and it could be with Simon Cowell because the last time Liam saw Zayn, it was when Simon dragged the raven-haired man out of the restroom.

“A drunken night, huh?” Liam says in amusement, which makes Zayn stop playing with his messy hair and turns to face Liam.

“Seem like you had one, too.” The stuntman smirks lazily as he sees Liam’s dark circles.

“At least I got drunk with my friends on their birthday, not with some men old enough to be my father on a dirty bed.” The star’s saying makes Zayn’s ears go red.

“I didn’t sleep with Simon, if that’s what you’re implying.” Zayn talks back then starts undressing to change into the costume the stylist addresses him to wear today.

From behind, Liam can clearly see the shape of Zayn’s body. The way the smaller man’s exposed skin moves makes Liam unconsciously stare for a moment. It’s not just because Liam’s bisexual that he enjoys staring at a man’s naked body, it’s also because Zayn has got dozens of old scars on his back, which is kind of terrifying. Liam has to gulp as he sees those ugly things on Zayn’s body, but he supposes those scars are the result of Zayn’s stunt performer job.

Also, Zayn’s shoulders are smaller than what Liam had imagined, even his hips are so small that makes him look like he’s malnourished. Looking further down, Liam can guarantee that Zayn’s ass is small but undoubtedly firm, it must be good to get a hold of those ass-cheeks. Zayn always wears more than two layers of clothes so Liam doesn’t recognize he’s that skinny. Louis is not big himself but Liam can easily tell that the blonde actor looks healthier than Zayn. How can a stuntman be this scrawny? He looks like he would faint anytime.

“Like something you’re looking at?” Zayn’s raspy low voice drags Liam back to reality. The raven-haired man turns to look at Liam as he’s buttoning his shirt.

“Your skin doesn’t look like Louis’ a bit. How can they choose you to be his stunt double?” The actor finds something to talk about, instead of telling Zayn exactly what he is thinking about.

“Oh, so it’s about skin color now?” Zayn’s now fully dressed.

“Not just the skin. You’re covered in tattoos. Louis doesn’t have that much of tattoos like you. The staff must be really busy and bored of covering all of those.” Chuckles Liam.

“Is it really a problem to you? As long as I don’t ruin your movie, shut up and let me do my job.” Zayn closes his locker and gets out of the small room.

Director Cowell is in the film set when both Zayn and Liam appear. The oldest man of the three greets Zayn happily, but the latter looks a little bit out of the mood as he just titters. Liam quickly takes notice of that small action.

“Zaynie boo, what’s happened to your beautiful face? You look like a nightmare.” Louis grasps Zayn’s face in his hands and observes the darker man.

“I’m okay. Just a stupid hangover. I shouldn’t have drunk that much.” The stuntman leans into Louis’ touch and lets the blonde caress his sharp cheekbones.

“I thought you don’t drink anymore.” Louis looks surprised. He lets go of Zayn’s face.

“Niall wasn’t home so I took the chance to treat myself. It’s been a hard time for me lately, you know.”

“Hm. It’s alright. The stylists will take care of your eye sockets with the makeup.” Louis calls the staff over after that and they successfully improve Zayn’s appearance just after half an hour.

Liam has been staring at Zayn since he saw him and the blonde star getting closer and closer and touching each other continuously during the time the staff makes up for Zayn. Liam can’t stop himself from assuming Zayn’s such a needy slut as the latter lets both Simon and Louis touch him intimately like that. It’s clearly that Simon has some dark feelings for Zayn, and Louis is the gayest among Liam’s circle of friends, so Zayn must be extremely oblivious not to see that both of those men are sexually attracted to him, yet he still lets them touch him. What a slut.

The camera starts rolling after everything is set up. Zayn only need to stunt for Louis three scenes today, which is good because Zayn will be able to have time to rest. Things don’t go smoothly as everyone expected when Liam continuously finds some excuses to yell at Zayn Malik. Sometimes, Liam barks at Zayn for making his face appear in front of the camera with an undeniably rude tone, while the Hollywood star could have been more polite when telling Zayn about his mistakes, it would make the stuntman feels some respect. Other times, Liam scolds Zayn for being too clumsy and not enthusiastic enough during the shootings. Director Cowell doesn’t even have a voice in those conversations between the Hollywood star and the stuntman as Liam jumps in to talk every time Simon’s about to open his mouth. Everyone on set now can officially say Liam Payne hates Zayn Malik.

After the filming is finished, Zayn swiftly leaves the film set after signaling director Cowell to go with him. Once the two are on the outside, at the back door of the film set, Zayn folds his arms in caution, his face pale and disconcerted. A few moments later, Cowell breaks the silence and asks Zayn the reason why he wants to meet him outside like this.

“I woke up this morning, felt a hangover taking control of my body. That was obvious because I got drunk last night.” Zayn hesitates as if he doesn’t know what words he should use to keep on telling his concerns.

“So?” The curious tone of Cowell’s voice ushers Zayn to continue.

“The problem was, I felt not only the headache, but also a strange feeling on my lower body. It was like someone had been touching me last night when I was drunk.” Zayn tries to focus his eyes on Cowell’s as he stops to search for more appropriate words. “I remember clearly that you were the only one that I had a drink with last night, but I can’t recall anything else beside that because I was so fucking drunk.”

Cowell stands silently for a moment before opening his mouth.

“So you’re implying that I was the one that took advantage of you when you were drunk?”

Zayn rolls his eyes in confusion as if he doesn’t know exactly what to say. The hurt on Cowell’s face as he says that sentence makes Zayn suddenly feels like he is the one at fault.

“If things have gone this far, I have no choice but to tell you the truth about the incident last night.” Cowell says with a serious look on his aging face.

Zayn gulps to prepare for the story.

“Last night, when you drank almost all of your beer, I told you to go to bed, but you insisted on drinking more, so I had to carry you to bed. When I was about to leave, you dragged me into your bed and started kissing me. I was drunk myself so I froze and let you do the work for a bit. When I realized what was happening, I pushed you away, but you didn’t want me to stop what we were doing. As a lonely man living far away from his family in the past two months, I wasn’t able to restrain myself, so we touched and did some stuff, but nothing serious happened last night.”

Cowell’s confession is really getting into Zayn’s mind. The younger man stands there dumbfounded, his golden eyes are sparkling with tears of horror and surprise. It takes more than a few minutes for Zayn to recover from what he has just heard from the director.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t-- I didn’t mean to drag you into this shit. I was, I was just so drunk. My friends always tell me that I often lose control of my actions when I was wrong, but I don’t know it could be that bad.” Zayn is busy babbling and rolling his eyes as he tries to explain to Cowell about his drunk problems, so he doesn’t see the satisfying look on the older man’s face.

“It’s alright, Zayn. I don’t blame you on any of this. It was both of our faults. I should have controlled my needs more.” Cowell indulges in hypocrisy, he leans in to touch Zayn’s shoulder, while the stuntman still looks dazed and scared as a little kitten.

“Don’t say it, Simon. I’m the one at fault. You have the right to be mad at me. You’ve got a wife and a kid, Simon. I made you become a cheater. I’m the worst!” Zayn shakes his head.

“Can we stop talking about that and let it go? It’d be better for both of us, right?” Cowell squeezes Zayn’s shoulder gently.

Zayn nods in agreement.

After Zayn has left, Cowell smiles to himself because he’s been successful in manipulating the younger man. Zayn’s outlook might look tough and bad boy-like, but the truth is he’s so naive and innocent in a way that urges Cowell to pin him on the wall and fuck him raw anytime he desires. It’s a shame that other people can’t see the special in Zayn so they somehow often misunderstand and mistreat him.

Good thing is Cowell knows how to use that to gain Zayn’s trust.

 

...

**  
**


	6. Little Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn brings Niall to work. Things ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing this at work because there's nothing for me to do, but every time my supervisor comes around I'm so scared. LOL  
> Okay, this is the 5th update.  
> Cheers.

The film crew also has to work on the weekends in order to finish the production in time. Zayn does not really wish to work on weekends because he’s worried about Niall. There is no way he will be a workaholic father who leaves his son alone at someone else’s house just because he does not want to lose his only job. That’s how things go to this point, Zayn brings Niall with him to the film set.

People who have worked with Zayn before are not surprised when they see a blonde little boy walking around the film set exploring things with excited blue eyes. On the contrary, the other group of people is completely taken by surprise. The second mentioned of two groups includes Liam Payne.

“What the fuck? Whose child is that? Why is he running around the set without any guardian?” The main character of the producing film angrily asks a staff who is standing nearby fixing the lights.

“I don’t know, Mr. Payne.” The man answers Liam with the expression just as confused as the superstar.

Liam cannot find anyone who is not busy preparing for the outdoor scenes, and he does not want to interrupt their job, so he decides to come ask the little boy himself. When Liam is approaching the little stranger, the kid is playing with the Captain America toy no one knows who gives him.

“Who are you?” The brunette man asks, his voice is clearly irritated, intends to intimidate the little stranger.

The kid looks up to meet the eyes of the adult who is talking to him, his big innocent eyes unintentionally force Liam to let his guard down right away. The blonde boy stands up straight from the chair he is sitting on to face Liam. His little figure stumbles a bit when trying to balance himself.

“My name is Niall.” The clear and adorable voice is so pure that makes Liam’s heart skip a beat. “Zapi told me not to talk to strangers, but I know you so you’re no stranger.”

“You know me, how?” Liam frowns in curiosity. He also bends over a bit and places his hands on the knees to lean in closer to the little boy.

“You are Leeyum Pain, I see you on TV a few times, your face’s also on the magazines my Zapi has at home. You’re really more handsome than in the papers.”

“So, who is this Zapi guy anyway?” Liam absent-mindedly chuckles as he hears his name is mispronounced. In a normal situation, with a normal person, Liam would be pissed if they pronounce his name incorrectly. But this is just a six or something-year-old kid so Liam cannot get angry.

“That’s my daddy.” Niall answers with the brightness in his eyes, and Liam no longer finds himself dislike the presence of the little stranger on the film set.

“What’s his name?” Liam gives Niall a small smile and swiftly touches the boy’s chin.

“Zapi.”

“I don’t know anyone who has a name like that in this place. Are you sure that’s his name?”

“I’m sure Zapi’s working here. He told me to sit here a few minutes ago, he needed to go to the toilet.” Niall looks at the way his daddy has gone to a few minutes ago as an illustration for his words.

“So what’s your Zapi doing here? I mean, what kind of job?” Liam should not be this curious but he wants to know more about the boy.

“He does dangerous stuff for actors like you. Like Captain America does dangerous stuff to protect the country.”

“We have some stuntmen here, but I don’t really know clearly about their personal life.” Liam considers the possibility of who this blonde boy’s father is. “And I don’t think the comparison between Captain America and stuntman is relevant.”

“Zapi!” Niall suddenly calls and waves his little arm as he sees someone exiting from the toilet entrance.

Liam turns around in inertia to look at the the way the little boy is looking at. That’s when he sees Zayn Malik walking out of the door. Zayn’s eyes wide open as he sees Liam standing close to his son as if they are having a talk. Just like Zayn, Liam’s also extremely shocked because he just realizes the fact that Zayn Malik’s got a child and he himself has been talking to that boy without acknowledging it.

“Niall, you making friends?” Zayn awkwardly smiles with his son as he still cannot keep his focus away from the more muscular man.

“Yeah, Zapi. Leeyum came to talk to me first, but I know him so he’s not a stranger, right?” Niall asks as he comes close to his father.

“Uhm, yeah, you could say that. Mr. Liam Payne is no stranger.” Zayn seems hesitate as he reconfirms it with Niall, which makes Liam feel unease.

The hesitation Zayn Malik’s showing assures that Liam’s still somehow not a trustworthy man. Liam knows his thought is ridiculous because the truth is this is the very first time he meets Niall, but he can’t help it.

“I don’t know you have a child. But you guys look so different that I didn’t even think about the possibility of him being your son.” Liam admits frankly as he looks at the cute scene in front of his eyes right now, Niall hugging Zayn’s legs and the young man bends down to pick the little body up into his arms.

“He’s my son.” Zayn states simply, his face is completely stoical, and Liam suddenly feels like a racist dickhead. Why does Zayn always make him feel bad anyway?

“Come on, guys! Let’s start the work.” Cowell announces and people start gathering faster.

During the day, Niall’s eyes are always wide and bright because he does not often get the chance to see his daddy working. Zayn’s mood is also more cheerful than normal because of Niall’s presence, his face looks even more stunning when he smiles.

“Little Niall, are you having fun?” Louis rubs the boy’s fluffy hair as he gives him a big grin. Louis has just finished his first scene so he is kind of free for a while. Zayn is doing the stunt for him right now.

“Zapi’s so cool, but he looks a lot like you.” The little boy seems displease as he sees his father looking like another person instead of being himself.

“That’s because he’s helping with the dangerous stuff. Your daddy is a courageous hero.” The blonde man explains as simply as he could to the little boy.

“I know.” Even though the boy gets what Louis says, he still looks upset.

Today, Zayn has to film four scenes for Louis. One of them includes flying from a rooftop to a driving car. Now, Zayn is standing on top of a building, waiting for Cowell’s signal to start jumping of the rooftop. This scene is more dangerous than the others so Zayn has a cable connected with his belly, it’s to keep him from falling freely on the ground in case things do not go well.

In the first round, Zayn fails to land on the car because it’s moving too much faster than what Cowell has required. Niall almost cries as he sees his Zapi falls on the floor. The stuntman does not get hurt, fortunately. Louis has to carry the boy in his side to calm him down, while both of them keep watching Zayn’s movements without turning away any second. Louis always puts his trust in Zayn when it comes to filming those stunts, but today he feels a little bit insecure about it. Not only Louis, but Liam also looks highly concentrate as he watches Zayn doing his job, which is weird because Liam normally walks away as Zayn’s filming.

In the second time, Zayn still cannot land on the car. He has some problems with the cable wire. It gets stuck and makes Zayn hanging freely on the air. His body moves in different directions for a minute and his back hit the wall heavily a few times. Zayn silently hisses in pain, and at the same time trying not to show any facial expression, he doesn’t want Niall to worry about him.

“The fuck is that? Who checked the cable?” Cowell yells at the whole set. He’s known to be a short-tempered man so this accident causes no good thing.

“I’m sorry, director. Last time I check the cable is still fine.” The staff quickly answers as he and some other staff members go help Zayn get off of the wire.

Director Cowell continues to scream and scold the staff when they are helping Zayn get down. When Zayn’s feet are already landed on the ground, Niall runs towards and hugs his legs tightly. The little boy’s tears are falling off on his burning cheeks, but he doesn’t make any loud noise because Zayn told him not to annoy other people in public by all means. Zayn kneels on one knee to hug his son. Though Zayn’s back is really painful and he knows the bruises are forming, he still keeps a smile on his face to comfort Niall.

“You okay?” Louis asks, he has been standing by Niall’s side the whole time as they together see Zayn getting hurt.

“I’m alright, Lou.” Zayn says weakly, his voice raspy and tired.

“I saw you hitting the wall several times. It must be painful. Let the medic checks your  wound.” Louis insists.

“Do me a favor, Louis. Bring Niall somewhere else.” Zayn asks sincerely and Louis finds no reason to oppose against his friend’s wish.

“Okay. I’ll do that with one condition, go get your back checked.” Louis says quietly.

“Niall, go eat some ice-cream with uncle Louis while I go see the medic okay?”

Then, Louis takes Niall’s hand to go outside. Maybe they will get some ice-cream cones from across the street.

Once both Louis and Niall are out of Zayn’s side, the young father goes to the men’s room to check his wounds. Zayn can guarantee there would be bruises all over his back and shoulder. He takes off his top layers to see his injured back in the mirror.

 

While Cowell is still releasing his anger towards the technical team, Liam takes time to relax and asks the other stuntmen who has been working along with Zayn in some other projects before about the dark man’s son. One of the stuntmen is Chris, an African American guy who has known Zayn for more than four years.

“Niall is not really Zayn’s son. He’s Zayn’s crazy ex-girlfriend’s son.” Chris answers Liam with tone that cannot be any less interested.

“What? What do you mean?” Liam is one-hundred percent confused.

“Perry, Zayn’s ex, she cheated on him with some Irish guy and then made Zayn take care of the kid for her. I told Zayn not to do it, but he keeps Niall anyway.”

“How long have Zayn been taking care of the boy?” It should not be like this, but Liam’s feeling empathetic for his enemy.

“Properly since the kid was two. So yeah, approximately four years. Zayn wasn’t in a good condition at the time either, you know. He was broke and I was sharing the apartment with him back then. I don’t know anything about the man’s past for he never mentioned it, but I know he’s a good guy. Because, like-- why would a man take his cheating ex’s child in and looks after the kid as his own son?”

Chris is right, in some aspects. Maybe Zayn has changed, maybe he’s not a bad person anymore. But who knows? Maybe Zayn has done something bad to make his ex cheat on him, so he feels guilty and accepts to look after the kid?

Fuck it. Liam doesn’t know what to think now. He properly should go wash his face with cold water to clear his mind.


	7. Broken Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn is hurt. Liam is confused. Simon gets back at being a rubbish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in the mood so now I update another chapter within 24 hours.  
> This is not a happy chapter so please re-read the tags and warnings I've put there in the first place.  
> Hope you guys all have fun (?) reading it. Or if you are angry, just throw your frustration in the comment section below. I'll take every single rock you throw at me.  
> All mistakes are mine and mine only.
> 
> Cheers...
> 
> Okay I need to say one more thing. Let's celebrate on Zayn confirms he's still the closest to Liam on NME interview and that they sexting and stuff!!! I make the sexting thing up so whatever.

The back of Zayn hurts like hell, especially in his shoulder blades. Without the shirt on, Zayn can see the skin on his back is turning into a darker color. This is not a good sign. Zayn needs to work, but the wounds will stay on his way. Maybe Zayn has to at least listen to Louis’ advice this time, he must see a doctor, or someone who can help him heal these injuries.

“It doesn’t look good, does it?” Zayn is too busy drowning in his own thoughts that he doesn’t realize Liam has been standing behind him in the men’s room for a few minutes now. Liam’s warm yet cold-hearted voice makes Zayn startle and look at the mirror to see who is there.

Zayn quickly recovers and puts his shirt on just to cover his bruised and scarred back from Liam Payne’s sight, but because Zayn does it too fast, he accidentally hurts himself. The bigger man frowns as he sees the struggling Zayn.

“Go get checked up if you don’t want to lose this job.” Liam coldly says and goes next to Zayn to turns on the water.

Zayn does not say anything. He leaves the room immediately after a few seconds being near the Payne.

Left alone in the small water closet, Liam cannot escape the thought of how sexy Zayn’s body even though this is not the first time Liam saw it. With all those tattoos and scars and bruises and the blonde wig, Zayn can still manage to look that intoxicating. No. Liam’s seriously fucked up. How can he think of Zayn in that way? This is literally ridiculous.

After exiting the men’s room, Zayn goes straight to the dressing room with the hope of having sometime alone there to take a rest. Instead, he’s stopped by Cowell on the way there. The older man asks about his condition and offers to give him some effective ointment. Zayn is acknowledged that Cowell has experience with the oil stuff and massages so he follows the man without a second thought. Right now, all Zayn needs is to heal his pain as soon as he could.

“I’ve already told everyone we will rest for two hours, so you don’t need to worry about the pain on your back. The oil will help you release it if you take enough rest and have a massage.” Cowell puts his hand on Zayn’s lower back as leading him to the director’s personal room.

“Thanks for this, Simon. It’d be a disaster if I couldn’t heal soon enough.” Zayn smiles lazily, not notice the way the older man’s eyeing him from above.

One they are both inside Cowell’s room, the director guides Zayn to sit on the bedside and offers the younger man a glass of wine. Zayn just obediently does as he is told.

“I will prepare some stuff for the treatment.” Cowell says then goes to the nightstand drawer to take something out.

After a moment, Cowell has a bottle of olive oil and a big towel in his hands. He tells Zayn to take off his shirt and lie with his head down on the single bed. Once Zayn has settled down on the right position, Cowell starts lubricating his back. The coolness of the oil makes Zayn shiver, but the warmth of Cowell’s rough hands slowly warms him up. The older man starts massaging Zayn after finishing the preparation. Zayn’s already closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation.

Cowell’s hands rubbing and kneading Zayn’s joints of muscles gently to release the tension and pain on his back. Zayn can’t help but moans quietly as he begins to feel the relaxation and comfort overflowing in his entire body.

“How’s that?” Cowell asks quietly as if he doesn’t want his voice to interrupt Zayn’s peaceful mind.

“Good.” Zayn mumbles, eyes still closed.

The director continues his work for a thirty or so minutes longer. The comfort has taken Zayn to somewhere he doesn’t even know. His whole body is feeling so good to be true. His mind is floating, his body is at ease, and his member is pulsing more and more quickly whenever Cowell’s hands touching his lower body. The problem is Zayn cannot even control his erection. It’d be really embarrassing if Simon found out Zayn’s hardness.

“How are you feeling, Zayn?” Cowell asks again to check Zayn’s condition.

“I’m feeling a bit weird, actually.”

“Weird? Why?”

“Something happens with my lower body and I--, I can’t hold it down.”

“What exactly?” Cowell temporarily stops rubbing his hands on Zayn’s lower back.

“I--, it’s my _little thing_. I think it’s getting hard.” Zayn purses his lips together after spitting out those words.

“It’s normal, Zayn. When you’re getting a massage, you could get hard at some point. It’s because when your body’s in need of relief, the intimate contact between the masseur’s skillful hands and your sensitive skin can help you release stress more than you could imagine.” Cowell patiently explains as he keeps on rubbing and kneading Zayn’s muscles.

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“I can help you release it, you know. It’d make you feel real good.” The older man convinces the beauty on his bed, but Zayn turns his offer down.

“I don’t think it’d be appropriate.”

“No one will ever know, Zayn. We’re at my place. People won’t come in unless I allow them to. Besides, you deserve some fun. How long have you been working and forgetting about the feelings of being by someone else rather than your own hands?” Cowell speaks quietly as he slowly turns Zayn’s body around to look at his small tent, his mature rough hands find their way to the part between Zayn’s jeans. The raven-haired man avoids the eye-contact because he’s blushing like a teenage girl on her first time being touched by a man.

“I still don’t think I should let you touch me. It will make the relationship between us become even more awkward. From the incident at my place last time, I still can’t forgive myself for luring you into doing these dirty things.” Zayn pushes Cowell’s hands away from his crotch and sits up quickly.

“I don’t mind it, Zayn. I want to help you. We’re good friends, right?”

“But this is not a friend thing, it’s--, it’s for lovers.” Zayn disagrees, his face is still reddening because his erection cannot disappear.

“Consider me as your friend with benefits.” Cowell’s face stiffed as he tries to be more patient with Zayn.

“No, Simon. I think I’d better leave.” Zayn finishes his sentence and stands up from the bed, but before he could move an inch, the older man violently grabs his arm and pushes his ass back into the soft mattress.

“I’ve been helping you and your kid a lot, and you still don’t put your trust in me?” Cowell angrily growls, he seems to lose all of his patience, which makes Zayn confused and scared. The older man has never made that face with him before, he has always been so kind and gentle even when Zayn makes mistakes and the whole staff has to refilm those scenes several times a day.

“Of course I trust you, Simon. I do appreciate what you’ve done for me and Niall, but this thing is different.”

“How can it be different? You let Louis touch you everywhere but you always keep distance from me. Isn’t that because you don’t trust me?”

“Simon, you misunderstand it. Louis is carefree, touchy-feely, and forward about things. He’s my friend and also my age so it’d be normal if he touches me.”

“So you mean I’m old and I can’t be your friends so you stay away from me?” Cowell hisses and grits his teeth.

“That’s not what I mean!” Zayn tries to protest but Cowell is too stubborn to listen.

“Enough with the bullshit!”

The director roughly stands up just to kneel on the bed, one knee between Zayn’s legs. The darker man dumbfoundedly looks at Cowell as the latter pushes him lie down on the bed. Zayn holds on tightly to Cowell’s t-shirt when the older man undoes his jeans impatiently. Only when Zayn’s jeans are about to be pulled down to expose his boxer briefs, he protests and hits Cowell’s jaw. The director gets angry and more violent when being attacked, so he uses his fist to connect with Zayn’s ribs several times in a quick motion. Zayn groans in pain and stops moving for a bit to regain his consciousness. When Zayn is finally able to move his body again, he finds out he no longer has the strength as before. Cowell has made him weak from inside out.

“What do you think you’re doing, Simon? Get off of me!” Zayn screams, but his mouth’s promptly shut by Cowell’s strong grip. Zayn’s feeling as if his cheekbones are about to be broken into pieces.

“You disgraceful slut! I’ll make you become mine so you won’t forget who’s been helping you out during your hard time in the past year!” The director clenches his teeth as he whispers into Zayn’s ear.

“Stop it, please! Simon, please!” Zayn tries to let out those pleas but only his muffled sounds are coming out from under Cowell’s rough fingers. The dark man grasps Cowell’s wrist by both of his hands because he hope he can escape the grip and calls for help. But in this situation, with his back pain and the new bruises Cowell has just gave him, Zayn is so hopeless that his tears are coming out from both of his eyes’ corners unstoppably.

While Zayn’s still busy with the struggling, Cowell has succeeded in taking off his own jeans and all of and the younger man’s remaining clothes. With the amount of oil Cowell uses to massage Zayn before things go this bad, he can easily reuse it for the penetration that he’s desired for such a long time. Cowell lifts Zayn’s thigh to search for the younger man’s entrance. Zayn’s eyes open wide in terror as he feels a sharp pain breaking through the most sensitive area of his body. This is not the first time Zayn has ever experienced this kind of pain, but it’s no less painful than his first time. However, it’s even more disgusting and horrifying when Zayn recognizes his member is still rock hard.

It can’t be. Zayn knows he is not capable of liking these kinds of things. It must be the wine Simon gave him. But how can that be? If it was the wine, then Simon must have planned this before it could happen. Simon is Zayn’s friend so it’s not making any sense.

But, a true friend wouldn’t do this, _this_ , to his friend, would he?

It’s rape. It’s a crime. It hurts other people. It hurts Zayn.

 

...


	8. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn’s past is uncovered after the incident with Simon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually, I didn't intend to post this as a chapter, but I think it should be separated from other parts of the story so I cut it out like this.  
> This part is to let you know more about Zayn's past story.  
> Tags and warnings should be noticed because I have just updated them.
> 
> Also, thank you for all the support.  
> Cheers! :>

_It was on Wednesday afternoon when Zayn received a call from the hospital. They said his parents got into an accident and died during the trip to the hospital. Never in his life had Zayn been so relieved when he heard about his adopted parents’ death. No one knew that Zayn had been treated like a piece of shit by his own family._

_Zayn never knew who his real parents were because he was abandoned in the hospital when he had just been born. In the first six years of his life, Zayn lived in an orphanage and couldn’t keep himself away from the fights with other kids. They always made fun of him for having different skin color, different outlook, different heritage, and a lot of other things. Zayn was not the type to hold back and quietly listen to the insults, so he fought back and injured the other kids in the orphanage. Nobody wanted to adopt Zayn because of his violent records, and also because of his skin color._

_Only when Zayn was six, he was adopted by his recently dead parents. They had the same skin color as Zayn’s and they couldn’t have a child, and that was why they thought about adoption._

_Zayn thought his life would change after that, but his new parents did not treat him really well. They said they wanted kids, but all they did was leaving Zayn alone at home and went to work. After a year, Zayn couldn’t take it anymore, so he started fighting with other kids at school again. His parents were invited to the school office several times a month and it made them sick of Zayn._

_One day, Zayn’s father couldn’t take it anymore so he punished him with a leather belt. Zayn was stripped naked and hit multiple times that night. His whole body hurt, especially his back. Zayn remembered the feeling of his skin cells being ripped off his back brutally. Since then, the punishment happened every time Zayn caused troubles or disobeyed. It occured once a month, then once every few weeks, and then every fucking week. Zayn started to get used to it. His back was always in pain, but he thought feeling the pain would be better than feeling nothing. That was why Zayn never asked for help._

_He was eight years-old when he got the very first scars on his back._

 

_…_

 

_The baseball bat was the second object Zayn’s father used on him. This torturous tool was even worse than the leather belt, because it caused dark bruises on over Zayn’s body. There were several times Zayn’s wrists, arms, and ribs were broken by this thing. His father did not even bring him to the hospital to have his broken body parts fixed. If it wasn’t because his teachers found out about his injuries and brought him to the hospital, he would have been dead years ago._

_Everyone said Zayn’s injuries were the results of his fights with other kids. No one had never doubted that theory. And Zayn was not interested in explaining something that he knew people wouldn’t believe._

_The baseball bat incident had caused a lot of troubles for Zayn in his last year at elementary school and a few more years later._

 

_…_

 

_When Zayn was twelve, he had been so frustrated about his surroundings. He wanted to release that somewhere else, so he decided to pick on some kids at school that looked way more insecure than him. The kids his so-called friends called Lily was the perfect target. Lily was a chubby white kid with stupid dressing styles and nerdy glasses. He always looked down when he was walking. That just made him look even more pathetic._

_Zayn started with a few verbal attacks, but Lily never talked back or showed any expression. Therefore, Zayn decided to push the kid against the lockers and intimidated him, but Lily still looked down and didn’t say anything._

_Zayn couldn’t believe that. How could Lily just take what Zayn gave him without any protest? It shouldn’t be like that. Zayn verbally attacked Lily in the first place because he needed some fun in his boring life, he presumed that his intrigue would provoke Lily to stand up against him sooner or later. Zayn needed someone that would fight him back, not someone that always submitted to him._

_The incident with Lily was over when one day, Zayn didn’t see him coming to school anymore. People said Lily had moved out of London with his family. Good for him. Maybe leaving this place would make Lily’s life better. Zayn so wanted to leave this place, but he was a useless piece of shit that didn’t know what he was good at._

 

_…_

 

_Zayn still kept being assaulted by his father. When he was fifteen, it all got into a newer level of torment. Zayn had sex with some girl at school because they were both curious about sex. Zayn came home late that night and his father found out he had had sex due to his crinkled t-shirt and the girl’s cologne on his body. His mother was not home that night because she had a business trip out of town._

_The older man pinned Zayn down on the floor and started ripping off his clothes. Zayn was so taken by surprise that he just stayed there and unwillingly let his so-called father took control of the whole thing. Zayn only realized the middle-aged man’s intention when he spread open his legs and got in between them. Zayn punched his father and tried to escape, but those strong hands quickly wrapped around his skinny arms to keep him from running away. Zayn heard something like “Fuck, your gorgeous” and “Never thought you’d become such an alluring twink whore” from his father’s mouth when he fucked him rough on the floor._

_Luckily, his father never had a chance to touch him again when Zayn turned sixteen._

 

_…_

 

_Zayn left school just after his parents died. He started doing some shit work just to get by. That included becoming a drug dealer. Zayn also met Perry, Niall’s mother, during the time he sold drugs. Zayn and Perry were so in love that Zayn always listened to Perry’s every words. When Zayn found out Perry cheating on him with an Irish guy, Zayn was so heartbroken._

_Everything Zayn had with Perry was over until she came back two years later without letting Zayn see her face. Perry left Zayn a message after putting Niall in front of his apartment door._

_It got worse when some intimidating strangers knocked on Zayn’s door and said he owed them ten thousand pounds. Zayn never borrowed anyone any money, so what the fuck was that about? After discussing the problem for a while, Zayn found out Perry borrowed money from these guys to gamble and she lost all of it. She told them to come find Zayn in case they couldn’t contact her. Zayn was so fucked up._

_Since that day, Zayn had been working his ass off to support himself and Niall and pay the debt for Perry._


	9. Drown in Distress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn’s living hell, and Liam has no idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't celebrate this day but for those who do, happy Easter's Day! :)  
> The new update's here. I wrote it when I was quite tired at work so it wan't as good as I expected.  
> Anyways, have fun!  
> Cheers.

When everything is over, Zayn is left alone in the dark room, lying mindlessly on the dirty mattress, staring blankly at the ceiling. Cowell has gone, but his scent is still haunting this place. It makes Zayn feel sick and qualmish.

Slowly getting up to his feet, Zayn goes straight to the bathroom in Cowell’s personal room with his bowed legs. Zayn really wants to leave this place now but he needs to make himself presentable in front of other people, especially Niall. The boy will be terrified if he sees his father looking like a mucky mess that has been emerged from hell.

Zayn throws up into the toilet until his throat sores.

He turns on the hot water and lets it spray freely into his body. Looking down at the floor, Zayn sees the pink and somewhat orange water flowing to the drains. The penetrating pain in between his thighs is making him shiver when he stands up straight like this. Zayn cleans his body with water only because he doesn’t want the smell of Cowell’s shampoo gets stuck in his body.

When Zayn finishes putting his clothes back on, he tends to exit the room to find Niall. All he need right now is to see his son, but he’s afraid he’d be too dirty to touch his boy. Just as Zayn opens the door, Liam appears on the hallway. Their eyes meet for a while before Zayn disconnects the contact first.

“What are you doing here?” The confused and somewhat surprised Liam asks.

Zayn cannot answer at first because he’s still trying to find an appropriate answer. Liam has just seen him walking out of Cowell’s room, it can be a bad sign.

“You have a fuck with Simon on the film set?” The Hollywood star raises his voice in clear irritation once he sees the shorter man’s busted lips and the undeniable love marks on his neck. Zayn’s shirt is also wet as if he’s just taken a shower. Why would he take a shower during their break? Isn’t it because he just had sex and wanted to get rid of the smell before someone notices that? Liam feels something twisted inside him when he imagines the scene of Zayn and Cowell fucking on bed just a short while ago.

“I, no, it’s--,” The raven-haired man babbles because he doesn’t know what to say or explain to Liam Payne. Zayn doesn’t know the actor that much, it would be very uncomfortable telling the bigger man that he himself has just been sexually assaulted by their director, Simon Cowell. Liam has been teasing Zayn about his relationship with Cowell, so maybe he will not believe a word Zayn spills out.

“So it’s correct. You’re blushing and nervous as fuck.” Liam chuckles with disgusting look on his face. “I know there’s something between you and Cowell. You useless punk must have crawled into his bed to get some benefits from him. Cowell’s living far away from his family, and his wife is planning on the divorce, so he must be so lonely. You take advantage of that and lure him into this shit. What a fucking whore, Malik!”

Zayn opens and closes his mouth, trying to seek for an explanation when he finds himself speechless over what Liam Payne has just accused him of, but nothing comes up in Zayn’s mind. The darker man is tearing apart inside, water is about to come out of his eyes and down his hot cheeks soon. Zayn avoids letting the broader man see him broken by running away before he bursts out crying like a baby.

Watching the hurtful look on Zayn Malik’s beautiful profile when he clumsily runs away from him, Liam’s supposed to feel satisfied and excited; instead, he feels like he’s just been stabbed in the chest by guiltiness. What’s wrong with me? Liam asks himself. What does Zayn do that makes Liam always feels like he is the one at fault?

Liam stays there for a while until he gets back to the film set, forgetting what he intended to do in the first place before seeing Zayn get out of Cowell’s room. When Liam just comes back, he spots Louis on the phone while feeding Niall with some spaghetti.

“Where the hell are you, Zee? Niall’s worried about you.” Louis seems angry and concerned at the same time when he yells at someone on the phone.

“Okay. But get your ass back here as soon as you’re in a good enough condition. Niall’s been asking for you.” Louis lowers his voice after hearing an explanation from Zayn.

“Your dad is tired so he’s taking some rest.” Louis tells Niall and the kid stops eating right away.

“Is he okay? I want to see him.” The boy’s watery eyes make Liam’s heart melt a bit.

“Zayn will come back here when he’s fine. He asks me to take care of you for a while so keep eating the spaghetti okay?” Louis smiles and rubs the younger blonde’s head.

Niall reluctantly nods and lets Louis continue to feed him.

“I need to use the bathroom so stay here just a few minutes, is it alright, Niall?” The blonde man asks and promptly leaves after receiving an approval from the kid.

Liam walks up to Niall once Louis has gone out of sight. The man stands silently in front of the kid, thinking of something to say.

“How long have your dad been gone?”

Niall raises his head to look at Liam, his face is a mess of spaghetti sauce.

“It’s been more than an hour and a half. Zapi told uncle Louis to buy me an ice-cream then he’s disappeared.”

“That long?” Now Liam is angry again. How can Zayn Malik leave his kid here and go have fun with a man that is old enough to be his father? How can he be that irresponsible?

The actor stays to talk with the little young boy for a few more minutes until he sees Zayn approaching them from the back door connecting the film set and the outside.

“Your dad’s back.” Liam notifies and Niall turns his head to search for his father’s figure.

The boy promptly runs to his daddy with the mess of spaghetti sauce on his mouth, Zayn slightly smiles and intends to pick the boy up. However, the pain sharpens as Zayn bends over, so he’s not able to restrain the frowns on his face in time. Niall notices his father’s hurtful expression so he stops to ask for reassurance.

“Zapi, you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Zayn doesn’t say much after that. He just takes Niall’s small hand and lead him to their seat, while Liam’s watching the scene.

“What do you need?” Zayn asks as Liam’s still standing near Niall’s seat.

“You left your kid to someone else for hours just to go bend on your knees for Simon?” Liam puts his hands in the pocket and looks straight at Zayn’s exhausting face.

“Shut up, Liam Payne! Don’t use those words in front of Niall. You don’t know anything about me so go away.” Zayn hisses.

“Ha! I know you more than you could think of.”

“Oh really?” Just as Zayn is leaning closer to face the taller man, Simon Cowell’s voice sends a shiver down his spine.

“We’ll start rolling now, guys.”

The expression on Zayn’s handsome profile is something Liam has never seen before. The darker man breaks the eye-contact with the anxiety and terror on his face. Liam didn’t expect that from Zayn. Why does Zayn look so afraid? Because Simon’s voice startles him?

The staff comes over to help Zayn put the blonde wig and some makeup on to brighten his skin. Now is the time for Liam and Zayn to start working together again on a dangerous scene.

“Zayn, come over here.” Cowell calls when Zayn’s makeup is done. This is the first time Liam’s seen Zayn being nervous when Simon calls him over.

Once Zayn is just a few steps away from Cowell, the latter comes closer to tell Zayn what he needs to.

“Act normal if you don’t want people to figure out that you’ve been sleeping with me. If you think of telling anyone about what happened between us, believe me they won’t even give a fuck because they’d just consider you to be the one that’s been chasing after me.” That sounds like an intimidation or blackmail to Zayn, but there’s nothing he can do at this point so he just simply nods.

“Guess your ass must be broken but that’s what I want it to be.” The director whispers into Zayn’s ears without knowing that Liam’s been observing them.

“That’s disgusting.” Liam says it to himself, though he has no idea what the stuntman and the director’s conversation is about.

Zayn gets into his position after the awkward small talk with Cowell. The stuntman does not really sure he could handle the filming today, his lower body is still hurt from the unwilling penetration, while his mind is still covered with dark clouds.

 

**...**

**  
**


	10. Silent Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn's hospitalized, Liam’s frustrated, while Harry finally appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sleeping 11 hours a day for the last two days. What the hell?  
> New update is here. Hope you like it.  
> Cheers.

The predatory way Liam is moving puts Zayn on guard relentlessly. The more muscular man uses a look that could kill to reckon the stuntman’s movements, even though the whole thing was already planned as in the movie script. Without any caution, Liam promptly moves forward to attack Zayn on the side. As a stuntman with five-year experience, Zayn’s completely capable of avoiding the hits from Liam and runs into a different room. The scene is good but Zayn’s sloppy moves ruin it somehow, so Cowell requires both Liam and the stuntman to do it again.

 

Liam Payne looks pissed.

 

When they both have to do the scene for the third time, Liam cannot hold in anymore. So during the fourth refilm, Liam really hits Zayn in the face, and the latter almost falls on the ground if he doesn’t have a good balance.

 

“I slipped.” Liam states shortly, but everyone knows he intentionally did it in the first place.

 

“No, you meant to do it. What’s wrong with you?” Zayn abruptly pushes Liam, then rubs away the blood is coming out of his nose with the collar of his shirt.

 

“Ha, so what ya’ gonna’ do if I did it on purpose?” A smug smile appears on Liam’s face as he walks a few steps around Zayn.

 

“You fucking asshole!” Despite the pain, Zayn jumps in to punch Liam in the face, but he is nowhere near to hurting Liam because the brunette actor has good reflexes.

 

“Don’t ever think of touching me with your filthy hands, Malik.” Liam hisses and throws himself at Zayn so that they both go down. Zayn is beneath Liam so the back of his head and also his back heavily land on the hard ground. The stuntman’s whole body is in pain, his vision is also blurring. Zayn can’t stop groaning in agony, which intrigues Liam to go further more. When Liam’s about to throw a punch at Zayn’s now pale face, Cowell screams to stop them.

 

“Enough, Liam Payne!”

 

“What? Scared I’m gonna’ hurt your reckless boy?” Chuckles Liam.

 

“Stop the bullshit! Get off of Zayn and give us some peace. Since when you became the troublemaker, huh?” Simon violently throws the papers in his hand on the ground and puts hands on his hips to show the seriousness.

 

Hesitantly, Liam gets up and leaves the agonizing Zayn on the floor. People wait for Zayn to get up, but he just lays there trembling. Niall is worried so he drags Louis’ hand to come check his father. Zayn shuts his eyes completely after a few seconds later.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

The brightness disables Zayn’s ability to open his eyes as he wakes up from a long and exhausting sleep. His surroundings are so white that hurt his eyes. Using one hand to temporarily cover his vision, Zayn starts feeling the low temperature in the room, and the pain and bruises screaming throughout his whole body. When Zayn’s eyes have finally adjusted to the luminosity, he removes his hand to look around the place. It’s when Zayn realizes he’s in a hospital room.

 

“You awake.” Niall happily jumps up and down to celebrate his dad’s recovery.

 

“Niall, who else is here?” Zayn asks as he sees no one but his son in the white room.

 

“Uncle Louis has a schedule so he can’t stay, he left after bringing me here with you in the ambulance.”

 

“And you’ve been here all alone?” Zayn is discomfort about the fact that nobody’s around to look after Niall. What if his boy got into some troubles and no one was there to help?

 

The concerns are still within Zayn’s mind as the door split opened. Zayn raises his head to see who is coming in. Zayn quickly recognizes that is Chris, holding a bag full of food entering the hospital room, Zayn’s hospital room.

 

“Awake? Thought you’d sleep until forever.” Chris avoids making eye-contact with Zayn, the injured man doesn’t know why.

 

“Uncle Chris has been with me since uncle Louis left.” Niall gets into his daddy’s bed to hug him. There is no way Zayn will push Niall away, even though the innocent hug is hurting him bad. Zayn rubs the boy’s messy hair and lets him sit next to him.

 

“Why are you here?” Zayn asks his friend, though he gets the answer already.

 

“To check whether you’re dead or alive.” Chris comes to sit on the chair next to the bed after putting the bag on the table.

 

“We don’t talk much since I moved out.” Chris disliked the thought of Zayn keeping his ex’s child so the two men got into some conflicts before Zayn earned enough money to get his own apartment.

 

“I know.” The other stuntman bluntly spills out the words. Zayn senses that Chris is nervous for some reasons.

 

A long silence takes over the small room until Niall speaks up that he needs to use the toilet. Once Niall’s disappeared into the bathroom, Chris cannot put up with his curiosity anymore.

 

“They said you have some cracked ribs and a lot of bruises.” The chocolate-skinned man notifies shortly, but his face shows that he has more things to spit out.

 

“Thanks for informing.” Zayn nods slowly.

 

“What they didn’t get was when they do the full checkup on your body, they saw the brutal intrusion in your bottom. It seemed to be a sign of a rape crime.” Chris doesn’t look at Zayn as telling him that information.

 

The raven-haired man’s eyes are filled with shock. Zayn never expects that people will figure out what happened to him that early. He’s still not recovered from what Cowell had done to him, and he’s not yet ready to talk about this to anyone.

 

“So, what do you say?” Chris asks in a voice that is more than a whisper as if he doesn’t want to fear Zayn away.

 

“I’m not talking about it with you.” The younger man determines, not looking directly at his friend.

 

“It means something did happen to you.” This time, Chris seeks for Zayn’s eyes, but fails.

 

“I don’t think this matter has anything to concern you.” Zayn is still looking at the window.

 

“We just want to help, in case you really need it.”

 

“Nothing like that happened, okay? So just forget about it.” Zayn knows a lot of complicated things will occur if he admits his problem to Chris.

 

“They have your rape kit already, so if you change your mind, just ask. You can go home on Monday, and the filming will be delay until Tuesday, so take some rest. I have other stuff to do so I bring food and snacks for you, I’ll come back tomorrow.” Chris stands up and promptly leaves.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

It’s totally not Liam’s fault that Zayn is hospitalized. It’s because Zayn’s physical fitness is not qualified enough to be a stuntman. Liam was also shock when Zayn became unconscious after they had thrown a few punches at each other. Now, people are secretly accusing Liam of hurting Zayn, and he hates it so much. First, it was Zayn who bullied him twelve years ago. Second, it was also Zayn who always made him feel bad about himself. Now, it was someone else’ fault that put Zayn in the hospital but people assumed that was Liam. What on earth is justice system? Is it really exist?

 

“I tried to explain but no one seemed to listen to my reasoning.” Liam gulps down a mouthful of beer as he’s frustrated over telling Harry about his fucked up story.

 

“I think you have little fault in that incident.” Harry chuckles while styling his hair with long fingers. “You properly intended to hurt that boy in the first place. It’s like a karma for you, mate.”

 

“Don’t you remember he’s the one that ruined my childhood?” Liam flares up at his long-haired friend because that one is defending the actor’s enemy.

 

“I know, I know, my bad.” The long-haired man sips his drink before leaning back into the couch to seek for comfort.

 

“Fuck it! Now everyone’s at that asshole’s side while I’m the real victim. Does it make me become Cinderella in a soap opera?”

 

“Don’t be overdramatic, Liam. Things aren’t that bad. It isn’t even in the news. People are gonna’ forget about this sooner or later.” Harry lazily appeases the not-so-sober actor.

 

“But I hate it when people misunderstand me.” Liam continues gulping the beer.

 

“How is the guy look like anyway? Zayn Malik, I mean.” Harry is curious about Liam’s enemy because he’s been hearing about the Zayn Malik name for so many times but never gets the chance to see the guy’s appearance.

 

“He’s an ugly piece of shit that entices Simon and takes advantage of him.”

 

“Ugly? How can he be ugly and make Simon fall for him at the same time?” That makes Harry so confused.

 

“He’s ugly inside.” Liam stubbornly determines.

 

“But he’s gorgeous outside?” The green-eyed man amusedly asks for confirmation.

 

“I don’t fucking give a shit. Why do you care about his outlook if he’s just a stupid bully? See it for yourself if you want to know that much.”

 

“Just curious, mate. Relax.” Harry laughs at Liam because the short-haired man is being drunk and childlike. “I’m going to your film set next week to see what your ugly friend looks like.”

 

“You must be kidding me.” Liam laughs it off but abruptly stops it when he spots the smug smile in his friend’s face.

 

“Wait and see.” Harry finishes off his beer.

 

…


	11. Never Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam’s angry because Harry’s flirting with Zayn. Also, Liam just opens his eyes a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an illustration art for the story in the link below, it's when Ziam were 12, but I'm too lazy to color it all so I will share the sketch first. I'll try to finish the coloring and post it later.  
> Cheers.  
> http://iamjaycee21.tumblr.com/post/141960498648/wip-12ziam-for-perfect-standards-ao3

It was a mistake telling Harry about Zayn Malik and then letting him come to the film set. Liam is extremely fuming right now that he justs wants to kill Harry off for good.

“Is that the ugly Malik you told me? He’s gorgeous as fuck, Li! I’m willing to spend every penny I have in my bank account right now to have him for myself.” The first thing Harry says when he sees Zayn Malik for the first time is something Liam has never imagined he would say… No. Honestly, Liam did think about that possibility, because Zayn’s beauty should be considered to be a crime among humanity.

From those everlasting long eyelashes to the pulsing pumping fuckable lips, even Zayn’s sharp cheekbones could cut Liam bleed anytime. Liam hates it he cannot make those perfect things disappear from Zayn’s profile. It would be easier for Liam to hate Zayn if he’s not that intoxicating and vulnerable at some level.

“Seriously, Harold? How could you say that in front of me?” Liam acts as if he’s angry with Harry, and he is actually.

“Zayn really is a beauty. I think you should just forget about the old rage and get along with the guy. If you’re lucky you can get into his pants some days.”

“He’s a slut, Harry. Didn’t I tell you? He slept with Simon, a married man, while he himself has a kid at home.” Liam reasons and shakes his head in frustration.

“Woo! The beauty has a kid? Isn’t that just makes him become even more sexy? Single father is considered to be a hot stuff, Liam. You’re so retarded for not chasing after him.” Harry can’t stop grinning as long as Zayn is still in his sight.

“What the fuck, Harry? You at his side now?” Liam growls and kicks Harry’s slender long leg to release his anger a bit.

“Fuck, it hurts, Li!” The long-haired brunette frowns at Liam, but quickly turns his head back to observe the raven-haired stuntman.

“Hey, Harry Styles the pop artist! What are you doing here?” Out of nowhere, Cowell comes greet Harry with an undeniable excitement in his eyes.

“I’m here to see Zayn Malik. I heard my mate here make him hospitalized the last time they were on set together.” Liam gives Harry a death glance for that.

“Oh, Zayn’s free for now so just greet him if you want. I’ll call him over.” The director looks more than comply.

“Yeah, of course. I’d like to meet him.” Harry smiles happily.

“Zayn, come on over here.” The director calls out.

Zayn is talking with Louis, he turns around when he hears his name being called by the director. Even though the stuntman does not desire to be anywhere near Simon Cowell ever again, he still has to comply.

Harry tiptoes on his feet as he watches the raven-haired beauty walking towards his direction. Zayn looks nervous and uneasy during the short route, Liam can sense it clearly.

“Hi, Zayn. I’m Harry. Nice to see you.” The brightness in Harry’s eyes is making Liam sick to his stomach.

“Nice to meet you.” The olive-skinned man shyly greets and takes Harry’s offered handshake.

“I’ve heard about you from Liam for so many times I can’t even count. You’re like the topic of our conversations recently. It’s great to know you have such a beautiful profile because Liam’s suck at describing people’s outlook.”

Liam groans an “oh fuck” and leaves because he knows it’s useless to protest against Harry’s words. He wouldn’t stay here any longer to listen to the corny pickup sentences that Harry’s pulling on Zayn to get into his pants. Liam is better than that. Sometimes, Liam’s jealous of Harry’s charms though. The rock star demeanor Harry owns is the key to awesome one night stands. But Liam wouldn’t be envy if today Harry’s target is Zayn fucking Malik. Why the hell should he be jealous of that?

Staying out of the crowd, Liam stands in the corner observing the way Harry tries his best to be touchy-feely to Zayn without making it too obvious. The darker man seems to abide by Harry’s naughty hands, and it makes Liam twisted inside. Liam was right, Zayn would let any man touch him without rejection. Liam bets Zayn will also let him touch him if Liam shows any interest in doing so, but no, Liam will never ever have any sexual desire for Zayn Malik.

On Zayn’s side, he’s a little uncomfortable when the long-haired and charming guy called Harry Styles meticulously takes any opportunity to put his hand on him, the only good thing is Cowell has gone to leave Harry alone with Zayn. The raven-haired man’s not good at rejecting, and he presumes maybe Harry Styles doesn’t mean any harm, so he decides to withhold his discomfort for a while and gets used to it.

“Would you like to go have a drink with me sometime?”

“What?” Zayn startled at the proposal. Never in his life Zayn imagines one day a famous pop artist like Harry Styles would ask to hang out with him.

“I want to buy you a drink.”

“For what?” Zayn asks again.

“Just hanging out, you know. You seem like a good guy. Don’t make me disappointed. I don’t have many friends as people always assume. Liam there is one of a few people I’m closed to.” Harry’s flirty eyes really catch Zayn’s attention, though Zayn doesn’t think he’s into guys anymore.

In the past, before Zayn was taken by his father, he used to have crushes on cute guys. However, the incident made Zayn reconsider everything, and now, Zayn thinks sex with guys is hurt and gross. That was confirmed again when Cowell pinned him down and _did_ him a few days ago.

“Are you okay?” Harry’s voice drags Zayn back to reality after a long thinking process.

“Yeah, of course.” Zayn smiles slightly and then decides to go straight to the problem. “I don’t want to disappoint you but, the truth is, I’m not into guys.”

“What?” Harry says in disbelief. “I thought you’re gay or at least bi. Liam told me you sleep, like ugh, with Simon.” The rockstar look-alike lowers his voice as he mentions Cowell’s name.

“No. It’s nothing like that.” Zayn’s eyes open wide, while his face blushed. He can’t stop himself from turning away from Harry’s face.

“Oh. So it’s a misunderstanding?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn. What a waste! You’re absolutely my type.” The rockstar lowers his shoulders in disappointment, but his eyes are still lingering on the slightly older person before him.

*

After the filming was wrapped for the day, Zayn enters the communal shower to clean the sweat out of his skin before going home. Zayn feels that someone is watching him when he showers, but Zayn cannot see anyone when he turns around. The faster he cleans up, the faster he can get out of here, so Zayn keeps on showering in high speed.

A hand put around Zayn’s slippery waist as he is cleaning off the shower gel on his body. It makes him startles and jerks away to turn around.

“Simon.” Zayn’s voice sounds husky and shaky as he recognizes the one who is touching him.

“Hello there, sweet boy. Looking good as always.” Cowell raises a hand to touch Zayn’s olive skin but the younger man sidesteps to avoid the contact and to run away as fast as he could. The older man is stronger and faster so he can easily catch the stuntman’s right arm and pushes him against the wet wall. Zayn struggles to escape but his strength cannot be compared to Cowell at this moment because of the old but still effective wounds on his body.

“Get off of me!” The young man’s whispered scream is let out, his fingers grasp around Simon’s wrists to hold him back, but everything he does is like water off a duck’s back.

“I locked the door and told everyone not to use the communal shower because it was broken. So don’t hope too much that someone’s gonna’ hear your cry for help.” Cowell slowly leans his head closer to Zayn’s neck and licks the young man’s ear as if it was sweet, the disgusting act sends a strong shiver down Zayn’s spine and he cannot hold in a repel grunt.

“Fuck off!” Zayn patiently fights against Cowell. He kicks his legs to hurt the part between the bigger man’s jeans, but he still finds no luck in that.

“Stand still, Zaynie. I won’t hurt you if you stop struggling.” The director intends to kiss Zayn’s lips, which makes the latter’s urge to vomit becomes stronger than ever. No man has ever touched Zayn’s lips before, and it’s something left on his filthy body, so he never wants it to change. To fight off his lips being abused, Zayn backs away until his head hits the wall.

Suddenly, a loud slam on the door from outside alerts Zayn and his attacker. When Cowell turns around in inertia, Zayn takes the chance to punch him hard the jaw and runs away with the fastest speed he has ever reached.

“Zayn, you fucking bitch!” Cowell screams out as he’s kneeling on the ground, due to the kick Zayn’s just given him.

Only when Zayn has escaped the shower that he realizes he’s completely naked and wet and slippery, because it’s fucking cold out here.

“The fuck?” Someone yells from a short distance and Zayn looks up to see Liam Payne’s terrified eyes and reddening face.

“I’m in a hurry.” Zayn’s voice is shaky as he quickly finds an excuse, but he knows it’s too hard to believe.

“Why are you--?” Liam gasps open his mouth but finds nothing to spill out, and his eyes can’t stop looking down.

“It’s complicated. Can I at least borrow your jacket? I need to get to the dressing room to take my stuff.” Zayn covers his front as soon as he spots Liam’s looking at that part of his naked body. It takes a long walk to the dressing room, and if Zayn doesn’t cover himself now, people are going to see him naked and ask questions all along. It would be better if he just puts his ego aside and borrows the actor’s clothes for a while.

“The shampoo and shower gel are still in your body. Why the hell are you so hurried?” Liam uses a suspicious look to stare at Zayn’s pale face.

Zayn can’t answer the question.

“Take it. And do the laundry before returning it to me.” The Hollywood star coldly throws his leather jacket into Zayn’s body, the stuntman takes it with a “thank you” and a true appreciation in his anxious face.

After Zayn’s walked away with Liam’s jacket for a good ten seconds, the actor starts dialing his phone to call some of his friends for a gathering at the bar tonight. However, before Liam can finish the last button on his phone, he sees Cowell walking out of the communal shower, where Zayn has just run out of minutes ago. This is unusual.

“Why are you in there? I remember you said that the water system was broken.” Liam raises his voice in a questioning tone, Simon’s surprise even makes Liam more jumbled.

“I was—, just, you know, checking out the electricity.” The director hesitantly says it out.

“Oh.” The actor nods in understanding but there is still something misplaced. “And why was Zayn running out of there naked?” Liam almost asks that question but he withholds his curiosity this time. There has been something weird happens between Simon and Zayn.

Liam first thought it was Zayn sleeping with Simon, but everyone around him doesn’t seem to believe in the theory. Harry tells him Zayn seems to be a real genuine guy and hasn’t slept with Simon. Chris confirms that Zayn is straight as an arrow and never sleeps with men. Louis determines that Zayn is not some kind of whore who fucks around to earn money. And now is the terrified expression on Zayn’s face as he ran out of the communal shower in a naked condition, and Simon comes out just seconds after. What could be weirder than the last mentioned situation?

Even though Liam hates Zayn with all his guts, but he hates unresolved problems more. So maybe Liam needs to find out for himself.

 

...

 

 


	12. Truth Be Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon is finally caught up with his shit. Liam is growing some feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to inform you this, but I have to stop writing this story, like, this is the last update I can give you guys.  
> I don't want to do this, but... Anyway, enjoy the chapter.  
> Cheers.

Yesterday was an unexpected experience. Liam was there when Zayn ran out of the communal shower naked from head to toes. The actor must have found it very strange and uncomfortable. Zayn just hopes the six-packed actor will not ask further questions about the matter, or else Zayn wouldn’t know what to say.

If it’s not because of the contract, Zayn would have left the job without leaving a trace behind. Every day, Zayn has to face the man who had intruded him and almost did it again yesterday if it was not because Liam Payne slammed the door too hard outside. It’s like a repetitive horrendous nightmare for Zayn.

Zayn has done the laundry for Liam’s leather jacket which he borrowed yesterday, so now he’s heading to the film studio with it in his bag. Normally, Zayn will enter the film set from the back door because there are less people and paparazzi. Even though those people don’t give a crap about his existence, Zayn still dislike being looked at or pointed at by those curious looks and high-tech cameras, respectively.

Before Zayn could enter the studio’s backdoor, someone calls out for his name. He turns around to see Simon Cowell walking towards him with a cigarette in between his fingers. The director is wearing casual clothes with sunglasses.

“Try to avoid me again?” Cowell smirks revoltingly as he is approaching the scared Zayn.

“Why do you keep coming after me?” Zayn slightly steps away from the door and finally spills out what he has been holding in for the whole week.

“Because I want you to sit on my cock.” Zayn’s face goes dismay at the statement.

“You’re sick, Simon. I have absolutely no desire to do such thing.” Zayn shakes his head sullenly. “I thought you were my friend, yet you betrayed me and did--  _ that _ , to me.”

“Don’t say that, Malik. You let men touch you, you never turned down their flirty eyes, you showed off your ass with those tight jeans, you styled your look before going out. What else, huh? Oh, you asked me to come into your house, you brought out beer, you got drunk, you let me do the massage, you let yourself appear defenselessly in front of a guy. How could I resist that? You are being such a slut, Zayn. You whore yourself out to make men go sexual and masturbate in your photos.” Simon is raging, it shows in his heavy breathing. The director’s now standing in front of Zayn’s skinnier body, making the younger man unintentionally suppress his back on the wall and at the same time, put his guard on.

“Simon, you’re making up all of that. I’m not whoring myself out to anyone. You’re being delusional.” The stuntman frowns his eyebrows.

“I’m not delusional!” Cowell punches his hand on the wall behind Zayn and it makes the darker man jump in a threatened surprise.

“I will try to forget what you’ve done to me, so if you can just leave me alone until we finish the filming, I will never tell anyone.”

“Fuck it!” Simon chuckles. “You think people will believe you? I will just tell them you’re into rough sex and even if you’ve had a rape kit, it can’t prove anything. You know why? Because I’m a fucking A plus director in Hollywood with tons of money in my bank account and tons of famous friends, while you have nothing but this fucking stunt work and a piece of ass.” Cowell suddenly grasps a hold of Zayn’s small but firm ass, the raven-haired man whimpers and pushes his hands against the bigger man to stretch the distance between them.

“Take your hands off me!” Zayn yells.

“What are you doing?” Liam interrupts the scene as he appears in a short distance from where Cowell and Zayn are standing. 

At first, Liam’s intention was to go have a smoke. Therefore, he has been standing in the corner at the other side of the building for more than fifteen minutes. Liam did not mean to stalk or overhear Cowell and Zayn’s conversation back here, but after the filthy words from Simon’s mouth caught his attention, he decided to present himself. Liam is even more disgusted when he sees Cowell’s hands obviously put on the unwilling Zayn Malik’s ass as he pins him against the brick wall. Zayn looks more than being frightened, he is hopelessly crying for help with his vulnerable facade. His normal arrogant presence is nowhere to be found.

“Liam, why are you back here?” Cowell backs off abruptly and tries to appear more seriously in front of the Hollywood actor.

“I said, what are you doing?” Liam repeats, his eyes utterly focus on Cowell’s, while Zayn promptly gets out of the director’s personal space and moves towards Liam absent-mindedly. It’s like an instinct when Liam raises one of his arm up to pull Zayn furthermore behind his back.

This thing really gets into Liam’s nerves. He always plays heroes or at least good characters in the movies because he hates people that lie and do terrible things to harm others. Zayn is not a good person himself, but from what Liam has been observing and judging from last week and the disgusting act Simon was doing moments ago, he can now guarantee that Cowell is doing no good to Zayn.

“We were just talking. What do you think?” The oldest of the three men looks anxious as he explains the situation, and Liam is sure that there is something wrong.

“Talking? With your hand on his butt?” The actor frowns.

“He’s--, he wanted me to do it.” Cowell stutters and uncertainly points his finger at Zayn, who is standing behind Liam’s broad shoulder with a scared look on his pale face.

“No, he didn’t. He was frightened by your outrageous gestures.” Zayn is surprised by the fact that Liam Payne is speaking up for him. Zayn thought Liam Payne hated him, maybe he was wrong?

“Why are you saying such thing to me? Are you accusing me of abusing him?” Cowell knits his brows and moves one step closer to Liam, the actor stands still to show his powerful demeanor to the older man.

“I’m sickened because I just figured out that my friend abused a much younger man, and that friend has just spilled out his guts frankly as if he’s doing a blind confession at the church.” Liam spits on the ground to illustrate his obscenity towards Cowell.

“Liam, it’s a misunderstanding.” Cowell tries to protest but Liam cuts him out immediately.

“Stop defending yourself, Simon! I’ve heard everything you said to Zayn.” Liam wrenches his teeth together and tightens his knuckles.

“You hate Zayn, I know it. Why do you suddenly turn to his side?” Cowell is silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth again. This time, he puts on a sly smirk, and his eyes brighten as if he has just had an epiphany of something. “Is it because you also want to fuck Zayn?”

Liam punches Cowell in the face to release the tense in his nerves. The boxer’s fist sends the director groaning and stumbling on the ground with an almost broken jaw.

“ A thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf, but  I’m either a thief or a wolf like you.” Just like that, Liam drags Zayn’s upper arm towards the parking lot on the side of the building. The raven-haired man does not say anything as he is being drawn away by those strong arms.

Once Liam and Zayn are in the parking lot, Liam opens the passenger door to invite Zayn in. The stuntman stays still because he doesn’t know why Liam wants to drive him away from this place, or where they are heading to. Everything is so confused right now.

“What are you doing?” Zayn furrows his brows together and slightly cocks his head to look at the still fuming actor.

“Get you out of here.” Liam simply says, but it doesn’t provide enough information to Zayn.

“I mean, why are you helping me? I thought you hate me.” The dark man swallows to clear his throat a bit.

“I can’t stay out of something like this. Can’t let the bad guys take control, you know.” Clumsily explains Liam. From the alpha status, now Liam looks like a puppy trying to tell his mama why he lost his bones.

Zayn does not reply. After a few silent moments, Zayn opens his bag to takes out Liam’s clean jacket.

“Thanks for the jacket, anyway. I’ve already done the laundry, but it doesn’t smell as yours because it’s the scent I’m using to wash my clothes. You can wash it again if you want.” Zayn hands Liam the tidily folded jacket which is covered in a small see-through plastic bag.

“It’s okay.” The slightly taller brunette takes what belongs to him and licks his lips as if he is nervous.

“Also, thanks for standing up for me back there. I don’t know what could happen if you weren’t there.” Zayn lowers his head to hide the sudden embarrassment overflowing in his mind.

“It’s what we do to help others, isn’t it? I helped you doesn’t mean I like you any better. But I suppose you should report to the police about what Simon had done to you, right? He deserved it.” Liam crosses his arms in a wistful thinking.

“I don’t want to get stuck with the laws and stuff like that. I have other more important things to take care of.” Zayn zips up his bag and slings it over his shoulder, ready to leave anytime soon.

“I don’t know what had happened between the two of you, but I guess it’s more than just some touchy-feely stuff, isn’t it?” The fact that Zayn denies getting help from the police is something that makes Liam twisted inside. The actor dislikes the thoughts of someone being mistreated but deciding to get over it just because they don’t want to get into any other trouble.

“Can we just, not talk about it, okay? The problem is, how can we even face Simon in the studio?” Zayn turns his head to look at the building where they do the filming in the last couple of weeks.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure they change the director. Until that time, you can just have some time off to relax.” Why do Liam have to be so concerned about Zayn’s personal life? He has been asking himself that question over and over again since he helped Zayn get away from Simon like a knight in shining armour.

“It’d be great if you could do that.” Liam sees a slight smile across Zayn’s good-looking face, it seems like a relief. The actor comes to realize that this is the first time Zayn has ever given him a genuine smile like that.

“I’ll make sure Cowell will never set his feet on this studio ever again. Someone like him should be put in jail.” Liam grins, it’s too late when he realizes what he has just done. Never in his life had Liam thought he would smile with Zayn.

“Thank you for everything.” The stuntman, again, gives Liam a small appreciated smile. “I think I should just go. See you later.” 

“Yeah, later.” What the fuck? Liam Payne just says goodbye to Zayn Malik? The actor sighs and covers his face by one hand in defeat.

Liam has just betrayed himself for treating Zayn Malik as a normal person. He shouldn’t have done that, because Zayn is supposed to be a discard, not a human being. Maybe Liam is a good guy and a little bit too soft-hearted.

Fuck, he even secretly stares at Zayn’s ass as the raven-haired man walking away. 

Liam is a hungry beast. 

Or maybe because he is just a person that loves beautiful things. That is totally not his fault.

 

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...just kidding. It's April 1st. I'll keep updating anytime I finish a chapter.  
>  Forgive me for the stupid trick. :"}
> 
> *
> 
> Oh hey, I have updated the finished artwork of 12!Ziam for this story.  
> Check it out at the Prologue (first page) of the story if you want to see it.


	13. Rumor Has It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is a fool, and everyone seems to enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update is here. Have fun reading it.  
> Happy weekend everyone!  
> Cheers.

From their last encounter, Liam still cannot get over the fact that he treated Zayn Malik way better than he should. How can he act tough again when he meets Zayn the next time? It would be very weird and unnatural. Desperately, Liam comes to Harry Styles for help.

“What should I do now?” The actor asks with his elbows on the knees while fingers massaging the temples.

“Stop being an idiot, Liam. You actually like the guy, admit it.” Harry chuckles while his fingers keep on hitting the remote button to change the TV channels.

“You dickhead, I don’t like him, not one bit.” Liam looks up to face his friend’s lazy eyes.

“You remembered and recognized him immediately in the first time you guys met, while the guy didn’t have a fucking clue who you were in the past. Theoretically, you have an animus for him and want to destroy him. But honestly, from what I heard from _you_ , it seems like you are being mesmerized by his charms and beauty day by day. It’s not like he is deliberately captivating you, it’s more like he’s unconsciously doing it.” The rock star look-alike sends a witty smile to Liam Payne, it makes the actor groaning in an emotional frustration.

“What do you know? You aren’t even around.” Liam shrugs and looks at his obnoxious friend.

“Tell me you never looked at his ass, or you never thought of your hands touching his perfect olive skin, or you never imagined him naked, or--” The list may go on and on if Liam does not interrupt it.

“I’ve seen him naked, why the hell would I have to imagine?” Liam heatedly admits without knowing that it only makes Harry grins wider like a maniac.

“You’ve seen him naked? How? When?” The long-haired man rushly questions.

Liam starts holding his face with both hands again in depression. The thinkings about Zayn Malik bewitch Liam that he loses most of his wakefulness recently. Liam shouldn’t have come to Harry though, this man will just make his life harder than it has already be.

“It was an accident. I saw Zayn naked when he ran out of the shower to escape Simon. I even let him borrow my jacket. So stupid of me!” Liam confesses unwillingly. This whole thing is so fucked up.

“That jacket?” Harry points at the black leather jacket Liam hanging loosely on the rack near the main door.

“Yeah.” Confirms Liam.

“No wonder why it smells so different recently. I thought you change the cologne, but it’s a bit hard to believe because you’re too loyal with the old scent to try a new one. You could have washed it again to have your aroma back but you didn’t. Now I know why, it smells like Zayn and you like it.” Harry laughs at Liam’s blushed face, and it earns him a punch in the shoulder. Harry whimpers and pretends to be defeated by the iron fist of Liam Payne’s by laying down on the couch promptly.

“I will never tell you anything about Zayn Malik ever again, you teasing asshole.” Liam picks up his key chains and mobile phone before standing up to leave Harry’s luxurious apartment.

“Come on, Li. I know you love me.” Harry calls from behind when Liam is already taking his jacket off the rack. With the quick snatch, Liam inadvertently smells Zayn’s comfortable aroma diffusing from his jacket.

“Farewell, Styles.” Liam slams shut the door after saying goodbye in an exaggerated tone.

 

*

 

Later in the next three weeks, the film producers have successfully hired a new director for “Rear View”, the film that was currently being directed by Simon Cowell. The media only acknowledged of Cowell’s departure from the film project through the talented and young director, Ryan Reynolds, when the brunette announced it on his Twitter account last week.

Even before Simon Cowell left the film project, there had been some strange photos uploaded on tumblr, twitter, and facebook. Those photos captured the moments that looked like Cowell and a young man were having some conflicts. Cowell pinned the younger man against the wall with an angry look on his face, while the young man protested and tried to get away.

Also, some other photos at the exact same place and time showed that Liam Payne appeared from afar during the time the confrontation between Cowell and the stuntman was happening. Fans had been discussing the matter due to the lack of expressions and objective information from the photos. Some assumed that Liam Payne was just the guy who stood up to keep the peace between the two men, others believed that Liam actually came to rescue the young handsome man. The first theory was proven wrong when another anonymous source uploaded a short footage of the confrontation between Simon Cowell, Liam Payne, and the nameless young man.

In the 3-minute-long video, it showed in details the moments when Simon pushed the young man against the wall and said something that appeared like a threat. Then, they struggled a bit before Liam Payne came into the screen as a peace-maker or whatever people assumed. Next, Liam and Cowell had some not-so-kind words with each other, which triggered a violent act to happen. Liam Payne punched the director with his fist and the latter was on the ground hugging his jaw right after that. The unnamed young man was dragged away by Liam and they disappeared from the camera. In order words, the recording proved that Cowell was the one that tensed things up first, and Liam played hero coming to help the raven-haired young man.

A lot of rumors and uncredited information around the topic of “real reasons behind the dropout of Simon Cowell” have been exposed and spread online since the news was confirmed by both parties, the film production team and Simon Cowell himself. A lot of people who have watched the raw footage believe that Cowell was the one causing the conflicts among the film crew, so that is his fault. Nonetheless, there is another group that thinks Liam Payne was over-reacting and violent act is unacceptable under any circumstances. They even run a campaign to isolate Liam Payne’s work and get a lot of attention from the public, especially parents who have young daughters that love Liam.

When reading the news at home, Zayn can’t help but feel guilty for making Liam Payne’s name be so scandalous. The actor is not close to him but the guy helped him to cut the strings that connected him with Simon. It is totally out of Zayn’s expectation that Liam Payne is now the target of an anti-fan group.

“Leeyum is on the news again?” Nialler frowns at the TV screen Zayn is watching.

“People don’t know shit.” Zayn blurts out without knowing he has just used a bad word in front of his son.

“Is he gonna’ be okay?” The boy carries a bowl of cereal and comes to sit on his father’s lap on the couch. Zayn lets the boy lean into his body and curl up as a cat.

“I don’t know. We haven’t seen each other for the last few weeks.”

“Why do you care about Leeyum? I saw him hurt you last time.” Niall looks up to search for Zayn’s eyes.

“That was just, uh, a misunderstanding. Mr. Payne also helped me with other incidents.” It’s strange to say good thing about Liam Payne, but Zayn can only tell the truth to Niall.

“Then you should just call him if you’re worrying.”

“No, I can’t, Nialler.” Zayn slightly chuckles at the innocent idea Niall is giving him. “We’re not that close, and I don’t even have his phone number.”

“Oh, I get it.” The boy spoons cereal into his mouth while letting his daddy stroking his fluffy blonde hair.

 

*

 

Exactly one month after the delay, the film production continues with a brand new director on set, Ryan Reynolds. The man is friendly and has a good sense of humor so people normally will have a positive attitude towards him from the very first encounter. In the first at work, Ryan greets every member of the film crew and tries to get to know more about them as much as he could.

After a few good working days, anyone can tell Ryan works utterly well with the staff members. He also has a big man crush on Zayn Malik, the most gorgeous stuntman he’s ever met in his life, but of course everything is totally in an innocent way for he’s a married man with kid at home.

On Friday, Zayn has to shoot a scene with Liam Payne, and it stresses him out because they haven’t interacted for a month. Liam also seems to be nervous and dumbfounded as he is reading the script for the next scenes. Ryan has to call out Liam’s names a few times to catch the actor’s attention.

“Come on, let’s do it. Roll your ass over here Lee.” Ryan grins energetically as he waves Liam from a short distance.

The actor picks up his ass and comes to the filming area. This time, Liam and Louis’ stuntman will have a fight inside a hotel bathroom, so the space is extremely limited. According to the script, Liam will be completely naked in this scene because he is assaulted as showering in the hotel. Zayn’s clothes are still on, luckily. In order to make the main actor become more relax, Ryan orders more than half of the crew to go outside while shooting this scene.

The camera begins rolling once Liam has already stripped down completely, and Zayn has already been at the bathroom’s door. To start off the scene, Zayn lightly steps closer to Liam with a thick silver chain in his hands. The water coming out of the shower reduces Liam’s hearing a little so he doesn’t know someone is approaching him. Once Zayn is close enough to Liam, he promptly puts the chains around Liam’s neck and strangles him. The bigger man reflexes quickly by holding the chains with his fingers and struggles to take them off. Liam really is feeling hard to breath because Zayn is not restraining his strength during the filming.

After struggling for a short while, Liam is finally free from the attacker’s chains. He turns around to take his revenge on the man. Liam hits Zayn’s stomach and they start fighting for real in few minutes while the cameras keep on recording relentlessly. While filming the scene, there are a few times Zayn accidentally touches Liam’s thick hot member and it makes him blush silently. Thanks to the mask, Liam won’t be able to see his shamefaced expression.

Later, Liam holds the attacker’s body up by his strong arms and throws him into the bathtub. Then, the actor holds the stranger down to drown him. Zayn brutally grasps Liam’s wrists and gasps for air as he’s in the water. Originally, Zayn has to be ready for this part but the nervousness takes control of his mind and now he’s out of breath already. Zayn is fucked up.

When the scene is supposed to be finished off, Liam still has not heard the “cut” from the new director, so he keeps on pinning the stuntman’s down. Gradually, Zayn’s lung is out of air and he stops struggling. Only a few more moments after Zayn has stayed still, director Ryan shouts out a “Cut! Very good!” sentence.

Liam loosens his hold on Zayn’s neck and chest once the scene is cut. However, when Zayn doesn’t come out of the water, Liam is panicked and quickly drags him out of the bathtub.

“Hey! Malik!” The actor shouts out Zayn’s name to wake him up, but there is only silence.

“What happened?” Louis worriedly asks as he comes closer to Zayn and Liam.

“He passed out.” Liam quickly states and starts doing the CPR for the stuntman with his hands.

“Fuck! I told Zayn to pretend to be out of breath, not actually let himself be out of it.” Ryan anxiously comes to Zayn.

“That’s not good, at all.” Louis holding his breath in as Liam is still doing the CPR.

When Liam is about to start using his mouth to help Zayn awake, the raven-haired man jostles up and spills out the water remaining in his lungs. Liam finds himself let out a sigh in relief, so does everyone else on the film set.

“God, you okay, Zaynie boo?” Louis helps Zayn sit up and checks out his facial expression.

“I’m alright.” Zayn is still breathing heavily to gains back the air into his lungs.

“You lost your calm, huh?” Liam asks angrily. “Or you didn’t remember the script? You’re supposed to stop struggling and get loose sooner. You could have died, you reckless punk!”

Everyone is now staring at Liam Payne as if he is a crazy man. No one scolds at a nearly dead man with that attitude. It’s cruel in all aspects.

Liam gets up on his feet and leaves to calm himself down.

“What the hell is wrong with Liam Payne? He’s like a maniac.” Louis says in whisper.

“I think the man likes you, Zayn.” Ryan chuckles as he observes the actor getting out of the door.

Zayn is still overwhelmed by the fact that he is almost drown to death by Liam Payne because of his own recklessness, so he can’t process any information at the moment. Still, he is aware Liam has no fault in this accident.


	14. Late Night, Red Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is desperate, Zayn is lonely, they have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had a nice weekend, hope you did too.  
> I wrote this chapter while listening to Drunk by Zayn. Enjoy it better with the music.  
> Cheers.

Louis Tomlinson’s birthday party is a completely dissipated night. Everyone is invited. Everyone gets to do whatever they want at the party. Everyone has a drink on their hand. Just after half an hour since the party began, Louis’ huge mansion is now crowded with celebrities and other well-dressed invitees. If it’s not because Louis is one of Zayn’s good friend, he will never set his foot into these places. It’s too suffocating for Zayn’s taste.

To attend Louis’ adult-themed party, Zayn has to let Niall stay the night at the place of his son’s friend, Ed. Niall was more than excited when he heard the news, that was when Zayn realized he had been so protective and strict with Niall that he rarely lets his son having fun with his little friends. Anyways, Niall must be genuinely happy right now because he gets to have a sleepover at Ed’s house.

People are gathering around Louis’ cake and waiting for him to blow out the candles, then everyone can gets drunk in any way possible until they all pass out. Zayn does not want to get too drunk because he has to pick up Niall at Ed’s house tomorrow morning. Before going to the party, Zayn assumed that it wouldn’t be so bad. However, Zayn forgot to think of the possibility that Louis has a handful of friends, enthusiastic ones, who are more interesting and proactive than Zayn himself. So now, Louis is hanging out with them, and leaves Zayn alone in the middle of the crowded place. The stuntman has nothing to do, no one to talk to, so he drinks quite a good amount of wine, and goes to the garden outside with another drink in his hand.

 

*

 

Party is where Liam belongs, but tonight he feels so different. He is stressed and uncomfortable with people surrounding him.

Liam refuses all the flirts those sexy girls give him, and stays in the corner. Liam has no idea why he feels so bored watching those half naked boobs, feminine curved hips, and the big round butts. Not only those female body parts, but also the male ones. Liam is secretly a bisexual guy so in every normal occasion, he also enjoys staring at the firm butts and handsome faces whenever he spots them. But not tonight though. Liam has no such desire right now.

That is all he can take. Liam is so bored that he won’t stay inside any longer. The actor gets out of the crowded party to head to somewhere else. When Liam is walking towards the garden, he spots Zayn sitting in a bench. The raven-haired beauty is also staring back at him. Liam stays dumfounded for a short while, not knowing whether he should turn back or keep going, until he determines to go straight to Zayn. There is no reason for Liam to avoid Zayn, especially when he is the one that people should avoid, not vise versa.

“Bored?” Liam inquires as he is still coming to Zayn’s direction.

“Party is not my thing.” The darker man slightly chuckles and nods for an answer, his voice is trembling a bit because of the low temperature at night and the drunkenness.

“Neither do I.” Liam lies, though he doesn’t know why he does that.

“Wanna’ sit?” Zayn hesitantly suggests because he doesn’t know if Liam would like to stay with him, alone in the quiet garden, at the back of Louis’ mansion.

“Yeah, sure. Nowhere else to go I suppose.” The actor smiles discouragingly to himself as he sits down next to Zayn in the small black metal bench. They are now just ten inches away from each other.

A long awkward silence takes over the atmosphere as the two men secretly realize this is the very first time they have been sitting together alone in a quiet place like this and not having any negative thought about the other.

“I’m sorry about the incident last time. I should have been more concentrate.” The stuntman spills out to break the quietness, his sleepy eyes look at Liam’s legs instead of his face.

“That’s, uhm, I also  think I should be the one to apologize. I shouldn’t yell at you after you was drowned like that.” Liam can’t believe he is apologizing to Zayn. He doesn’t know himself any more.

“You have the right to do it. I was reckless, as you said.” This makes Liam feel bad, sincerely. Why does Zayn have to be so polite to him?

“I think we should just pass the topic.” It would be better that way.

“Okay.” Zayn slightly nods in agreement. With nothing to do, he gulps his drink again.

In the low and matte light, Liam is able to secretly observe the drunken man beside him without getting caught. Zayn’s long eyelashes are true masterpiece, and they look like they are glowing in the dark due to the faint lights in the background. Every contour of Zayn’s face is perfection as well. And those piercing golden eyes are sparkling as if there are tears ready to flow down on his cheeks any time. What makes Liam swallow is how Zayn’s full lips are wet because of the gulp of wine he has just had seconds ago.

Liam is full of shit. How can he admire Zayn’s beauty while he is supposed to hate them with all his guts?

“Mr. Payne, can I ask you one thing?” The raspy voice drags Liam back to reality. Now Liam realizes Zayn looks less than sober, maybe the guy has had a few drinks before going out here.

“Yeah, what’s it?” Liam clears his voice, tries to appear more straight up.

“What makes you dislike me?” Wow, the question stings Liam like a freaking bee. “I mean, I don’t know if you’re still hating me, but you surely did in the first period we met.”

How can Liam answer the question? Say it out loud that he was the kid Zayn picked on twelve years ago? It would make their relationship become even weirder and harder to deal with.

“It was just a stupid assumption, you know. Your appearance reminded me of someone I knew in the past, and that person wasn’t a good guy.” That is all Liam can come up with at the moment. He hopes Zayn will buy it.

“Oh, really?” Zayn’s eyebrows flinch and his eyes open wide. “Actually, I can get why you had such assumption about me. I wasn’t a good person in the past, honestly, maybe that’s why I have such a bad boy look that everyone hates.”

Liam raises his head to look at Zayn more clearly, and waits for further information.

“I had a troubled childhood with a lot of dramas you wouldn’t believe.” The handsome stuntman chuckles, which Liam can find the sulky in it, even though the darker man is trying to hide it by lowering his head. “I did bad things, too, you know.”

“What did you do?” Liam asks after not hearing Zayn spill out anything else in a bit while.

“I bullied a kid at school,” Zayn is still not looking at Liam. “Which was not good, apparently.”

“Who was the kid?”

“I didn’t know his real name, not remember to be exact. But I remember I called him Lily.”

“Why did you bully him?” This is such a good opportunity for Liam to find out more about the reasons why Zayn hurt him in the past. The actor has never imagined that one day he would be asking his bully these questions.

“It was a childish thinking, really. I was sick of my life and wanted to put it into someone else.” Zayn sighs sullenly. “I saw Lily wearing those stupid clothes and always looked down on the ground when he was walking. Some kids had been picking on him at school already. I thought it would be fun to tease him a bit, and hoped that he would react, but the boy kept his mouth shut all the time. I kept on teasing him, waiting for the day he would fight back and stick up for himself, but it never happened until he moved out of London with his family. I knew I was wrong for doing that to him, so I would give Lily a sincere apology if I ever see him again.”

“So you want the kid to strike you back?” Liam restates.

“Of course I did. It’d be great if you know how and when to stand up and defend yourself against the ones who harm you. Unfortunately, I tried that all the time and never really succeeded. I can’t do anything else properly, seriously. I wanted to become an actor, you know, but I guess I’m suck at acting because I can’t pretend to be someone else.” Zayn’s voice is getting more and more raucous as long as he keeps talking. “That’s why I end up being a stuntman. This job helps me get through the way, while I can keep doing something that related to movies and stuff I like.”

Zayn finishes his drink and puts the empty glass on the bench, his lazy eyes close and then open slowly as if he is ready to bed.

Liam is in daze right now, he temporarily can’t process his brain. What should he think about this? About the reasons Zayn bully him? Was that a good thing? Frankly saying, because of Zayn, Liam decided to change himself. He wanted to outstand himself in front of other kids. He wanted to make his parents proud, not worry about his problems at school. He started doing exercises to get in shape so that no one could ever shame him again. He also pursued his dream of becoming a successful actor in Hollywood. And after a few years, Liam has finally succeeded because of the strong motivation.

Was it because of Zayn that Liam became successful?

“I know this is hard to believe, but I’m--” Liam swallows. His heart is beating so fast in anxiety that he can’t turn to look straight at Zayn. “I’m the kid you bullied.”

There is nothing comes out of Zayn’s mouth. Just a long and distressful silence that makes Liam sick to his stomach. The actor really needs to know how Zayn would react to the fact that he was Zayn’s victim twelve years ago. Would he be surprised?

It’s silly. Of course Zayn will be surprised, or even too dreadful to say anything. Like right now, because Zayn is still silencing.

“Hey, say something.” Liam loses his patience and turns to face Zayn.

The brunette actor is speechless and somehow angry at the same time as he sees the man next to him has already closed his eyelids. Liam has finally decided to take all of his courage to confess the thing he has been containing inside of him all that time since the first time he met Zayn again after twelve fucking years, but the raven-haired man just falls asleep as Liam was struggling to say those things to him. What a disgraceful person!

“You sleeping?” Liam asks in an unbelievable tone.

Nothing happens.

“You fucking piece of shit, Zayn Malik!” The actor growls at Zayn’s limp and unconscious body.

Zayn produces some light snorings as his head is leaning back against the back of the bench in a not-so-comfortable posture. He could have a broken neck if he keeps sleeping like that till morning. Liam has got back at hating Zayn right now, but he cannot let the stuntman have an injured neck while they are still working on the film production together. It would cause a lot of troubles. So, Liam decides to move right next to Zayn and gently move the darker man’s head onto his shoulder so that the latter can get a better sleeping position.

“Fuck you, Malik. Someday, you will pay the price for making me embarrass myself all the time.” Liam hisses quietly and takes the drink to his mouth.


	15. Mischief And Mayhem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn wakes up in a strange place with Liam right next to him, while Louis being a tease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always write the story on Google Drive, but today I write it on Word.  
> However, the internet is a dickhead so I have some problems when checking the story.  
> The chapter is missing some words and phrases, and it has some stupid mistakes because the fcking GD didn't save my story properly when I double-check my Word document and re-upload on GD.  
> To anyone who has already finished reading the chapter, I'm sorry for the mistakes.

The morning sunshine awakens Zayn from his long drunken sleep. When he finally sits up and observes the surroundings, he quickly realizes this is not his house. There is no way his bed can be this soft and comfortable. Zayn looks around to check if he could find something else to define who this place belongs to, and he can guarantee this is Louis’ house when he sees the blonde’s photos hung on the walls. However, the presence of Liam Payne’s naked figure on the other side of the bed makes Zayn jumps up and falls out of the bed immediately.

Once Zayn is already on the ground, he clumsily rubs his eyes and opens them wider to examine the situation. There is nothing on Zayn’s body, except for the boxer briefs. Besides the pain that has just appeared when he falls down from the bed, Zayn’s lower back is utterly alright. His front is also fine for nothing is weird down there. Other parts of Zayn’s body are normal as well, so maybe nothing happened last night. Zayn sighs in relief and stands up to go find his clothes.

But who the hell undressed him? And why Liam Payne is sleeping next to him, in the same bed?

“Liam Payne.” Zayn calls out the actor’s name when he cannot find his clothes anywhere. “Where are my clothes?”

The actor is still snoring like a baby. Zayn hesitantly waggles in his feet a bit before coming up to wake Liam up.

“Hey, where are my clothes?” Zayn impatiently repeats the question and shakes Liam’s shoulders. The actor groans in annoyance and turns his head away from Zayn.

“Hey, wake up, or I will take your clothes.” Zayn menaces as he finally spots the actor’s clothes lying messily on the ground, they look like they have been thrown down mercilessly by their owner.

“Fuck off.” Liam mumbles unconsciously and brushes Zayn’s hands away.

Zayn gets tired of waking up Liam, so he decides to take the actor’s clothes. Zayn needs to go pick up Niall before ten so he must hurry now, or else he cannot keep the promise with his son. It’s already nine thirty.

“I’m sorry but I’m sure you can manage to get some clothes from Louis.” Zayn says that to the still sleepy Liam once he is all dressed up. The actor seems to not notice the speech.

Zayn takes his belongings and leaves the room. When he enters the living room, also known as the party area last night, he spots about ten people are sleeping on not only the couch but also the floor. The stuntman feels lucky because he can sleep on a proper bed, not this libertine place.

*

It’s afternoon when Liam wakes up in Louis’ guestroom. He cannot find Zayn on the bed, so he guesses the raven-haired man has left already. Zayn must be shocked to find Liam sleeping next to him, but that is Liam’s intention in the first place, he wanted Zayn to be startled. When Liam cannot find his clothes, he supposes that Zayn must have taken them with him.

Last night, Zayn was so drunk that he couldn’t even walk on his own. Liam was forced to carry the stuntman on his shoulder and brought him to one of Louis’ guestrooms for him to rest. During the short trip, because of the continuous up and down movements, Zayn threw up and dirtied his clothes when they just entered Louis’ room. The actor was exceedingly frenzied, but there was nothing he could do to fix the problem. So, Liam cleaned up Zayn’s mess and put him to bed. The actor also had to take Zayn’s clothes off because they were all dirty. The raven-haired beauty’s body never disappointed Liam though, it was smooth and touchable, despite the fact that there were too many scars on his back.

After Liam had completed that task, he intended to leave. However, Liam’s bodyguard was not with him last night, while he himself also had a few drinks, so he couldn’t drive. At first, Liam intended to sleep in another room, but he thought it would be fun to scare the shit out of Zayn. Therefore, Liam stripped himself naked and slept besides Zayn. The bed was comfortable so Liam fell asleep just after a few minutes.

“Hey, wake up already?” Louis detectably greets as Liam walking down the stairs with only a pair of boxer briefs. The blonde is eating a small bowl of fruit yaourt.

“Where’s Zayn? He left?” Liam asks and looks around just to see some unconscious bodies on the floor.

“Yeah, he left wearing your clothes. What happened? You guys slept together already? I thought you guys hate each other.” Louis teases, and it makes Liam shudder because of a strange feeling.

“The fuck, Lou? I didn’t sleep with him, never in my life.” Crinkles Liam.

“Then why does he wear your clothes and you have nothing on you, well, except for the underwear?” Louis waves his spoon, which causes some drops of thick liquid falling on the floor.

“Because the guy took my clothes!” Liam screams his throat out when trying to explain the situation.

“Why did he have to take your clothes?”

“Because I took off his clothes yesterday.”

“You’re a pervert, Liam.” Louis shows a disgusted face to Liam, but it’s just a mockery expression.

“Hey, it was because he vomited on his own clothes like an infant and I had to clean up the mess.”

“Okay, I get it.” The blonde chuckles to himself, his mind is full of his own dirty thoughts, while the brunette actor is still furious.

“Now lend me some clothes, I can’t go home in this condition.”

“Go to my room and take what fits you, dickhead. It’s the room on the right of the first floor.” Louis says without looking at Liam and goes sit at the couch.

When Liam has gone upstairs again, Louis turns on the tablet and accesses the browser to watch some news articles. Mostly, Louis just strolls through the headlines to see if anything catches his attention. Yesterday was his birthday, so Louis is sure his name will appear on the headlines quite many times. Suddenly, the blonde sees a headline with Liam’s name in it, which says: “Liam Payne hooked up with a mysterious guy at Louis Tomlinson’s party yesterday.”

“What the hell?” Louis murmurs and clicks on the article.

The page is loaded and Louis sees the sneaking shots of Liam letting Zayn lean into his shoulder while they were in the garden. The reporters mentioned that the raven-haired man in the photos was the same one that appeared on the clips where Liam Payne and Simon Cowell had a confrontation, they also accused Zayn of being the cause of the conflicts between the two men. Louis doesn’t know why those paparazzi finally have got Zayn’s real name and showed it on their articles.

“Liam, you need to see this.” Louis calls out for his friend, the latter goes downstairs just a few minutes later.

“What’s up?” Liam sits on the couch, next to Louis. The blonde’s clothes are smaller than his size so Liam feels a bit uncomfortable whenever he moves too much.

“Yours and Zayn’s photos are all over the internet, mate. Check it out.” Louis shows Liam the tablet and the brunette starts looking through what are already on the screen. Liam’s eyes can’t open any wider as he sees what the media and the netizens are discussing and assuming me about his relationship with Zayn Malik.

“This, also.” The blonde actor turns the screen into another page.

“Woo, what’s this? How could they write these things down?” Liam exclaims and holds back the urge of throwing Louis’ tablet to the other side of the spacious living room. The paparazzi took Zayn’s photos when he exited Louis’ mansion this morning, they spotted that the man was wearing Liam’s clothes and assumed the two must have had very rough sex last night. Liam must have torn Zayn’s clothes apart while they did things, which was why the raven-haired beauty had no clothes left and must wear Liam’s clothes.

“Never thought people could exaggerate things this much.” Louis appraises.

“That’s how they get paid for their job. Make things up and get the internet’s attention.”

“But how are you going to explain if they ask you about this?”

“I don’t give a shit. I won’t answer any damn question.”

*

Zayn has no idea why he feels like someone is following him when he is on the subway to go get Niall. He swears on his real mother’s grave that he spots someone taking his photos in secret. The man is mid-thirty and wears nice clothes, he looks like a paparazzi though, maybe because of the high-tech camera on his hands. When Zayn gets off the subway, the man is still following him. Even when Zayn finally takes Niall out of Ed’s house, he can still see the stranger stalking them around the streets.

“Hey, why are you following me?” Zayn abruptly turns around to confront the man, his hand holding Niall’s tightly.

“I’m on my way home, man.” The guy lies, obviously.

“Okay, then go first.” Zayn steps aside and lets the man pass him.

“Who’s that man?” Niall looks at Zayn with his curious eyes.

“Nobody.” Only when the man is out of sight in a cab, Zayn takes the bus with Niall and they both go home.

Later that day, after Zayn has finished doing all the household chores, he checks the internet to see if there is something special. Zayn is overwhelmed and extremely confused when he sees his face is all over the internet, together with Liam Payne. Twitter is also trending #WhoIsZayn. When Zayn clicks on the hashtag, all he sees are the hatred and homophobic slurs aiming at him and Liam Payne. How is Liam doing? What would he think if he see these things on the internet.

Even the pictures of Zayn and Niall are on the internet. What confuses Zayn the most is the existence of an article with the headline: “Liam Payne and Zayn Malik have a kid together?”

“What the fuck is happening?” Zayn cusses.

Just moments later, Zayn receives a call from an unknown user.

  
…


	16. Disclosure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an interview, Liam explains his relationship with Zayn, and it leads to something being revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn JC, back at it again with the new update.  
> Happy reading!  
> Cheers.

It is a very nerve-wrecking short period of time as Zayn hesitates whether he should take the call or not. He is scared that it is either Liam’s management calls to blame him, or Liam himself calls to taunt him for the rumors on the internet. Though Zayn knows that is not his fault that those rumors being spread online, he can’t help himself from thinking he has some responsibilities in this matter, especially because Zayn is the one people are pairing with Liam Payne. Being a responsible father he is, Zayn decides to answer the call no matter what will happen later.

“Who’s that?” Zayn asks the one on the other side of the line.

“It’s Liam. We need to talk, face-to-face, now.” It sounds like a command to Zayn, but he has no good reason to refuse the meeting with Liam. The actor’s name is being more and more scandalous online, and Zayn is sure that this will cause Liam’s career, and also his life, a lot of troubles.

“When?” Zayn says quietly.

“I’ll message you the address. Come there immediately once you have received it.”

“Okay.” Zayn has not even finished his answer as Liam hangs up the call.

The address comes shortly after that. Today is Sunday so Niall is at home all day. Zayn has to take Niall with him because seriously, he cannot afford a babysitter, and he can’t trust people around here enough to let them take care of Niall when he is gone.  Zayn knows he is supposed not to bring Niall to go see Liam during this stressful time. He assumes Liam will not be pleased. Zayn has to go to see Liam by taxi because he does not want the paparazzi to take pictures of him and Niall and stalk him to the place he will be meeting Liam Payne in the next thirty minutes.

The taxi arrives at the building Zayn and Liam are going to meet up after twenty minutes. Zayn is more than happy when he sees no one is following him and Niall. Zayn takes Niall’s hands and they go inside the building. The address says fifth floor so Zayn presses number five on the elevator interface design. When the elevator door opens, Zayn is startled a little bit because there is a big guy appears in front of him.

“Mr. Payne is waiting for you.” The man points to the room Liam is inside. “Please, follow me.”

“Oh, thanks.” Zayn says and goes towards the room with Niall.

“—ridiculous! No way in hell I’m gonna’ do that!” Zayn overhears Liam’s furious voice when he is quietly walking behind the bodyguard towards the door.

“They need to know the truth, Liam. Your fans deserve to know who you really are.” That is the voice of another man, older than Liam, Zayn supposes.

“Fuck it! You say that they deserve to know the truth, but you ask me to lie to them about dating Zayn.” Liam chuckles mockingly. Something is thrown down on the floor.

Everything stops when Zayn finally enters the door.

“Hi, you must be Zayn Malik, and that little man over there should be Nialler, right? Anyway, I’m Liam’s manager, Mike.” Besides Liam, this is the only man in the room before Zayn gets in. This man is standing already so he just needs to step forward to greet Zayn.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Zayn nods slightly and takes the man’s hand, but the stuntman is still standing near the door because he does not know where to sit. The couch Liam is sitting on is the only place Zayn can get his ass down.

“Please, have a seat, next to Liam.” Mike leads Zayn and Niall to the couch. Liam doesn’t even look at Zayn and Niall. “So I guess you must have seen the news, right?” Mike questions and Zayn just simply nods.

“Okay, then you should know that those rumors are eating Liam’s reputation. Those pictures of you and him are so clear and sexual in a way that we cannot deny in front of the media. No one will ever believe it if Liam says you guys are just friends. I know Liam is bisexual from the very beginning so I, myself, can’t even believe it either.”

“So what do you suggest we should do?” Zayn asks in a low tone, not wanting to tense things up.

“I have just had a talk with Liam about the solution, but he is not supporting it. In my opinion, I suggest you guys should just come out to the world, say that you are dating or something. Then, Liam can just consider this as an opportunity to be open to the fans about his true sexual preference. Also, Zayn, you won’t lose anything. With that face of yours, and the relationship with Liam, you can become more famous than you could have ever imagined. It’s a win-win for both of you.” The manager gives a persuasive speech, which is effective to neither Liam nor Zayn.

“I don’t have the need to become famous, and I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s a lie, isn’t it?” Zayn furrows his forehead in confusion.

“Uhm, you can say that, but I think it’s a good lie, you know. No one loses anything with it. If Liam keeps on denying the truth, the media will just find some other ways to pick up his personal life, it will be even more complicated and harder to control.”

“It’s bullshit. I will never say that I’m dating this fucking punk!” Liam hisses.

“Stop calling me punk, Mr. Payne. What did I do to earn that title from you?” Zayn retorts.

“You did a lot of things.” Suddenly, Liam remembers what Zayn confessed to him last night. If what Zayn said was true, so he is not really that bad, isn’t he?

“Enough. I think you two should stop the argument and focus on solving the real problems.” Mike interrupts the scene with arms crossed in front of his chest. “We genuinely have no other choice but to let out the information that the two of you are dating. It’s just provisional. You guys can break up after two months, and no one will have any doubt about that. We’ll also support you financially during this time, so you don’t have to worry much about the inconvenience this thing may cause.”

“I don’t have a problem with it, as long as Mr. Liam Payne won’t change his mind and fall in love with me, because it’d be very verbose.” Zayn harshly spills out the agreement, which makes Liam’s face redden and his mouth turn into a scowl.

“You piece of shit, Malik!” The actor growls like a wide animal, and Zayn smirks at that.

“Live with this shit for the next two months though, Mr. Payne. Can I leave now?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll send someone to drive you home.” Mike leads Zayn and Niall out of the room and orders the bodyguard to drive them home.

*

In the interview with Hollywood Reporter, Liam officially announces his sexual orientation is bisexual. The actor reveals that he has been dated both men and women since he was thirteen, and he is attracted to both genders. When they ask about Zayn, Liam makes up a story that could be a little too good to be true, but it’s real and it tells everything about Liam’s past. Nobody has ever thought that the actor had been through such a tough childhood in order to be himself at the present.

Zayn is dumbfounded when he reads the interview on the internet the day later.

_ “I grew up in Wolverhampton as everyone has already known. My family moved to London when I was ten because my dad had a job there. We only lived there two year, but that was like the longest and toughest time of my life. I was picked on all the time because I was shy and overweight. I always thought of fighting back, but doing was always harder than thinking, so I kept silent and let those kids bully me. When I was twelve, there was another kid at school that started attacking me. At first, he was just verbal, he called my Lily. After a few months, he began to do it physically. Then, one day, the boy beat me up with some of his little friends. I was frustrated and angry, but I couldn’t find enough courage to strike back. _

_ Luckily, my family had to move to Los Angeles the next day, so I could finally escape those nightmares. Because of that kid, I had the motivation to improve myself. I opened up more, I worked out, I made friends, I hung out with other kids, I joined the acting class, I even participated in some auditions and got my first role. Never in my life had I ever thought of meeting the kid that bullied me again, but I did, after twelve long years. _

_ I met him on the film set, he worked as a stuntman. He has changed into a grown man with mature characteristics. He also has a magnificent appearance. However, it didn’t stop me from recognizing him. At first, I still hated him because of what he had done to me, so we had a lot of arguments. But after interacting with him for quite a while, I realized he was more than just a bully in the past. He is a kind-hearted man with a broken soul, and I love him for that, sincerely. So, we started flirting and fooling around until the day I confessed my love for him, he agreed to date me, and now we are together. Our relationship is stronger than ever. His name is Zayn Malik, and he is the one I’m crazy in love with at the moment.” _

Did Liam just say that in an interview? It sounds like a love confession to Zayn, even though Zayn knows it was just a fake interview. And what was that bullying story about? Liam described Zayn as his bully in the past, he even gave out the nickname Zayn called him, which was Lily. The only one Zayn has ever called by that name is Lily, the kid he bullied twelve years ago. Of course Zayn remembers he had a story time with Liam Payne a few days ago at Louis’ party when they were drunk, but why did Liam have to take that story and apply it for his story with Zayn?

What does it mean? Is it Liam’s way of saying he is Lily? How can that be? They cannot be one. Lily was a chubby and shy kid, while Liam is a hunk and a time-bomb with aggressive demeanor. They are distinctly at the opposite poles. And apparently, there can’t be such a coincidence existing in this world. It, obviously, is Liam’s imagination.

“It’s just what you come up with, isn’t it?” Zayn calls Liam on the phone immediately after he has just finished reading the interview.

“No, Malik. I was saying it straight to your face. You’re kid that bullied me.” The stuntman can hear Liam’s sarcastic chuckles through the phone. “You’re lucky I didn’t make you suffer more.”

“So that’s the real reason why you hate me that much.” Zayn’s voice sounds like a whisper.

“Correct. Now live with that guilty conscience of yours in the next two months, Mr. Malik.” Liam mimics what Zayn said on the day they met at Mike’s meeting room. Then, he hangs up, leaving Zayn holding his phone like an idiot.

 

…


	17. Cohabitant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn is feeling remorseful about what he did to Liam, and the latter finds it interesting.

It’s been three days since the day Liam finally came out to the world. The film production has been postponed another two weeks because of Liam Payne’s scandalous incidents recently. Zayn cannot even leave his apartment without being photographed or questioned by the paparazzi. It is more annoying when those celebrity reporters continuously ask about Niall and who the kid’s mother is. Zayn doesn’t even want to answer a damn question but they keep following him around with the stupid cameras. That is all he can take, Zayn decides to call Liam to solve the problem.

“I can’t do a thing. You wanted to _date_ me so here it is. That’s how I live every day.” Liam coldly mocks.

“I didn’t know things can turn this bad. But I can’t bring Niall to school every day if those people keep stalking us and taking pictures. It’s very intrusive. Some of Niall’s friends even asked him about me and made fun of him for having a gay dad. The boy came home and cried like a two-year-old in the last two days, man. He’s fucking upset! I can’t continue to do that to my own son. Please do something to stop this, Mr. Payne.”

“That was your fault for agreeing on doing this fucking shit. Live with it!” The actor hangs up abruptly. This is the third time Liam Payne does that to Zayn.

“Fuck!” Zayn closes his eyes tightly as he is trying to think of some other ways to get out of this mess.

Zayn does not have many friends because he is not good at making social connections. Maybe Louis can help him, but if he goes to the blonde’s place, the paparazzi may be able to seek him out again because Louis is also a celebrity. Zayn thinks of Chris, but the guy is married with kid now, Zayn cannot go to his place to hide. Right now, they are the two people that Zayn considers as his friends; besides, he has no other one. Zayn finally comes up with the last resort, Mike.

“What’s it, Zayn?” The manager’s deep voice on the phone wakes Zayn up from his weariness right away.

“It’s the reporters. I’m in a lot of troubles but Liam doesn’t want to help out. I don’t know what else to do, Mr. Bay.” Zayn sighs desperately.

“I’ll help you out, Zayn. Don’t worry too much. First, just go to my office at the building we met last time. We will come up with something later. And Zayn, just call me Mike.”

“Okay, Mike. I’ll there in half an hour.”

 

*

 

Thanks to Mike’s great ability to convince and manipulate, now Liam and Zayn are moving in together. To be more specific, Zayn and Niall have moved into Liam’s house to avoid the media. They will live there until the event goes down to the point that Zayn and Niall won’t be disturbed by the paparazzi anymore.

“You really are a fucking bothersome, Zayn Malik.” Liam keeps playing his video games, not bother to look at Zayn or show him where his and Niall’s rooms are.

“I have no other options, Mr. Payne. That’s why I have to come to your place, just as Mike has just recommended. You agreed to let me live here, didn’t you?” Zayn knows Liam is not looking at him, so he stays focus on Nialler instead. The little boy is walking around and observing things he has never seen before.

“Did I have a choice? Mike forced me to let you in for fuck’s sake.” The Payne throws his PlayStation handle into the couch frustratingly and deadly stares at the thinner man.

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience, but all we need to do now is to put up with each other in the next two months. I won’t do anything to bother you, so relax.” The raven-haired man follows his son and drags the boy away from Liam’s collection of superhero figures. He knows Niall likes superheroes, but he will not let the kid touch any of Liam’s toys. Liam puts those things in the glass shelf orderly, it means he must value them somehow.

“Ugh, I don’t wanna hear your hypocritical apology. Your room is upstairs, the one at the end of the hallway, Niall’s is the one next to yours.”

“Thanks for guiding.” Zayn takes his and Niall’s luggage to their rooms, while Liam turns back to play with his video games.

 

*

 

The next day, following Mike’s instruction, Liam and Zayn go to the mall together to do the shopping. The fake couple does that because they need people to buy the story in which Liam Payne and stuntman Zayn Malik are dating and moving in together. Liam can spot people secretly taking his and Zayn’s photos, he finds it normal, but Zayn looks more than bothered. Liam gets why Zayn hates it though, the latter is not familiar with the spotlight and all those curious eyes on him. When Liam first entered the industry, he also disliked being followed around by strangers, but then he learned to get used to it.

“Hold my hand, Malik.” The taller man orders bluntly. When Zayn gives Liam a disgusted look, the actor quietly hisses. “It’s for the media, you silly, stop looking at me like that. People must see it with their own eyes in order to believe the fact that we are dating.”

“Oh, okay.” Zayn blinks a few times before hesitantly taking Liam’s hand into his own. While Zayn is astonished a little bit by the warmth and roughness of the actor’s hand, Liam’s mind is captivated by the firm grip of Zayn’s surprisingly tender and cold hand.

“Stay close to me as much as you can. Show them your love to me.” Liam teases after successfully regaining his calm.

“Why do I have to be the one doing that?” The darker man flusters over the inequity.

“Isn’t it obvious? Who gets more benefits in this relationship? You. I’m the Hollywood superstar, while you’re just some random dude on the street I’m dating.” The actor crinkles his forehead as a sign of displeasure, his hand tightens Zayn’s to pull him closer until their arms touch.

“Hey, it’s hurt. Mr. Payne.” The smaller guy mutters while he is trying to loosen Liam’s strong grip.

“You used to hurt me more than that. Also, stop calling me Mr. Payne. It’s Liam you should be calling since we’re dating.” The words cut Zayn’s conscious mind as he thinks back at what he did to Liam before. He knows he owes Liam an apology.

They both go into a men’s clothing store because Liam wants to buy something new to refresh his closet. Liam drags Zayn straight to the shoes area and then sets the latter free so that he can do his shopping. The actor chooses a pair of dark brown Oxford shoes and tries them on. Zayn just looks around because he is not interested in these kind of luxurious and pricey shoes, he has not even tried them on before, let alone purchasing them. All Zayn has ever worn are some things that can help him walking around without getting his feet hurt, such as some cheap boots he is wearing right now. Zayn rarely pays attention to all the outfits and nice shoes though.

“Go find something for yourself. I’m not doing it for you, you know.” Liam hands his chosen Oxford shoes to the employee for packaging.

“I don’t wear these things.” Zayn lazily says, his eyes boringly staring at the floor, not the expensive products in this place.

“Just take something. You want them to think I’m not buying you anything while we are at the shopping mall? I don’t want to be portrayed as a fucking tight-fisted on the news.” The brunette actor growls irritatingly and shoves a pair of short brown boots into Zayn’s chest. The raven-haired stuntman holds the shoes but does not react, so Liam has to speak out again. “I saw you wear boots all the time. These shoes are million times better looking than your shoes so try them on. If they’re not your type then I don’t know how blind your eyes are.”

Zayn cannot refuse the pair of shoes so he forcefully puts on the shoes. They fit Zayn’s feet perfectly. “I’ll take them.” Liam notifies the employee and moves to the clothing area.

As a man with good beauty standards, Liam quickly spots a dark grey suit that he thinks Zayn would certainly look good wearing it. Zayn dislikes the suits because they make him look uptight and not comfortable to move around, but he takes the suit to the fitting room anyway because Liam wants him to. After trying the suit on, Zayn walks out of the room and causes Liam to look at him with astonished eyes. Zayn looks like a model in that freaking boring suit.

Liam be damned.

“All he needs now is a tie to completely become a prince.” The employee recommends with a bright smile on his face. He sure is also looking at Zayn in admiration and a little envy, just like Liam right now.

“Never thought the suit would look that good on you.” The actor restrains his amusement by giving out a cold tone. “Get rid of those old clothes of yours, I’ll buy you something else.”

“I’m not really comfortable in these things, Mr. Payne. I think my current clothes won’t have any problems in at least two more years.”

“Call me Liam.” The actor menacingly reminds Zayn, which causes the latter to nod slightly in compliance.

“Liam, I think my clothes are alright at the moment, so--” Liam interrupts the skinnier man.

“What are you thinking? We’re dating, so you must wear something that is good enough to be at the same level as mine.” Liam hisses and chooses some other clothes for Zayn.

When the shopping trip has already finished, Zayn comes out of the store with a couple of suits, four pairs of shoes, two hoodies, three leather jackets, four dark colored shirts, five plain t-shirts, five ripped jeans, and a bag of accessories.

“You don’t have to buy me all of these.” Zayn knits his brows, his eyes still can’t stop looking at the bags on his hands.

“What should I do? I can’t choose between them. They all look-- the same on you.” Liam grimaces.

“How much did you pay for these?” The stuntman curiously asks.

“It’s not your concern. Go get something to eat. I’m exhausted from the shopping.” Liam holds Zayn’s bags for him and they both go to a restaurant downstairs.

The paparazzi are still following Liam and Zayn when the two are sitting at their small table in the corner of a crowded Italian restaurant. Even though Liam is tired of pretending to be intimate with Zayn, he can’t forget the duty Mike puts on them in the first place. Thinking of a way to make all those followers satisfy with what they have, Liam decides to take the action. Liam and Zayn are sitting at the opposite of each other, but it doesn’t stop Liam from leaning forward to peck Zayn on the lips while the latter is studying the menu. The kiss causes Zayn to bust up and stare at the bigger man’s hazel eyes tremendously for quite a long while.

“It’s for the paparazzi.” Liam says delightedly and gets back at studying the menu.

“You don’t have to seriously do that.” Zayn shyly says after he has finally finds his brain back. He rubs his mouth quickly to clean up the remaining tingling feelings from the sudden contact between his and Liam’s lips.

“I can do whatever I want to do with you, Zayn. You owe me, big time.” Liam chuckles in victory.

 

 ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel isolated by everyone at work. I'm not a social person so people at my workplace don't talk to me like they do with the other intern, who is more talkative and agile.  
> I know it's my fault that people see me as an invisible shit, but I can't help but feel desperate because I can't change myself. I was born an introvert.  
> I'd rather have a broken leg then going to work. I just don't have the gut to make my leg broken.  
> Just some random thoughts from an introvert.  
> Bye.


	18. Pleasure & Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam loses his mind whenever Zayn is around. And Zayn, well, is around Liam 24/7. It helps a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in a bad mood so I drag Liam down with me. Actually, ha, it's not true. I've planned this scene even before I start writing the story.  
> I'm sorry in advance though.  
> Tags and warnings should be noticed.

It is almost midnight when Zayn has finally succeeded in taking Niall to bed. The kid enjoys the new house and asks Zayn about everything in this place. When Zayn is going to his own room to get some sleep, he hears Liam calling his name from downstairs. The stuntman forces himself to let his sleepy state aside for a while in order to go see Liam. Zayn’s brows absently knit together as he spots the actor half-sits half-lies on the couch, drinking wine and watching Netflix lazily. Liam looks tipsy with his red eyes.

“What’s it?” The darker man questions once he is standing next to the couch.

“Nothing. Just need someone to drink with me.” The actor smirks. Then, he lowers his hand into the empty space right beside him as an invitation for Zayn to sit there with him.

“I don’t drink when Niall is around.” Zayn determines, his hands are still put inside the pockets of his sweatpants.

“Bullshit! Come sit with me, I’m bored as fuck.” The brown-haired actor hisses impatiently.

When Zayn does not move an inch, Liam gets up to drag him into the couch. However, because the actor is quite drunk, he loses his balance quickly and falls back onto the couch while his hands are still tightly holding on to the latter’s thin arm. The whole thing causes Zayn to stumble and trip on the actor’s firm body. One of Zayn’s legs is in between Liam’s thighs and unintentionally touching the bigger man’s crotch. As a natural reflex, Liam seizes Zayn’s hips by both of his hands to keep the raven-haired beauty from falling onto the ground. The actor’s surprised by how small Zayn’s hips are within his grip. He knows Zayn is not a big guy, but this is just too underweight. The weird thing is Liam’s crotch twitches when imagining how he grasps a hold of Zayn’s tiny hips and fucks him hard right on the floor.

Liam’s completely hypnotized by Zayn’s beautiful features as they are being closer to each other than ever. Every inch of their body is touching. All the well-defined shapes of Zayn’s magnificent profile appear right in front of Liam’s eyes, those innocent golden pearls look confused and adorable as fuck, those sharp and high cheekbones are a deadly sin, the high thin nose is perfectly symmetrical, and the lips… they are the things that make Liam find breathing is harder than usual. Just as Liam is about to taste those plump lips by his own, Zayn regains his balance and hops out of Liam’s embrace. Zayn’s face is now blushing tomato red, which stimulates Liam’s sense stronger than before.

“Sorry, I think I should just go back to my room.” Zayn quickly says before stomping away without looking back.

“You owe me a sincere apology, Zayn. You said that yourself at Louis’ party last week.” The brunette actor whimpers drunkenly as he clumsily stands up from the couch. “What would you do, huh?”

Zayn stops and slowly turns around to look at the person he used to hurt in the past. Liam is standing there waiting for his response. This man is so different in comparison with Lily of twelve years ago, but now Zayn knows Liam is Lily, so he can easily realize that those eyes are still the same, still looking at Zayn with irritation and pure hatred. A long silence has passed before Zayn finally comes up with the words he should use for the apology.

“I’m sorry for making you suffer, Liam. I was stupid and full of myself, but not anymore. I’ve changed and tried to be a better person, mostly because I’ve got Niall in my fucked up life. It’s useless to apologize now but I don’t know what else I could do to make it up for you.” The raven-haired man stands still, holds in breath as waiting for the actor’s reaction.

Liam does not show any expression at first, but then he walks towards Zayn. The actor raises his hand and gently caresses Zayn’s jawline. The awkwardly intimate gesture sends a shiver down Zayn’s spine, but he tries to control the trembling by gritting his teeth together tightly.

“You don’t know, but I do, Zayn. There is one thing you could do to make it up for me.” The actor says in a low and raspy tone that sounds like the victory growl of a predator after defeating his prey.

“What could I do?” Zayn asks back. His thoughts are still in a mixture because of Liam’s unclear statement.

“Get on your knees.” Liam commands.

The smaller man’s eyes wide open in the sudden realization. He gradually figures out what Liam wants from him. Ultimately, Liam is bisexual, isn’t he? Maybe he needs Zayn to release some stress for him. Zayn will not lose anything if he sleeps with Liam for one night. Zayn has already gotten himself dirtied by letting some other men touch his body before, one more time with Liam will not make any difference. Besides, Liam is a much more handsome guy than those other two men. Zayn made Liam’s childhood become some terrible memories, while childhood memories are supposed to be the good ones. Even if Zayn does this thing for Liam, it won’t be enough to pay for what he had done.

Without any protest, Zayn gets on his knees.

“Take it out and suck it.” Liam continues the orders.

What Liam wants him to do scares the shit out of Zayn, but he cannot resist this. Hesitantly, Zayn zips down Liam’s pants and takes his half-hard member out. The darker man gulps down heavily before opening his mouth to take Liam’s member in. This is Zayn’s first time putting a man’s cock inside his mouth. Also, Liam’s member is too long and thick for Zayn to cope with at first, so he chokes on it just after the tip comes in a bit.

“Try harder, Zayn. A cock-slut like you should do better than that.” Liam grasps Zayn’s messy hair and forces himself inside Zayn’s mouth again. When the thing touches Zayn’s throat, he jerks away and coughs harder. Liam retries several times later in order to make Zayn be capable of taking his whole member in without choking on it. At the end, Zayn is still suck at taking a dick in his mouth, but Liam’s fully hard now so it’s acceptable. Liam lets Zayn pass this round.

“Go to my room if you don’t want to wake your son up.” The actor holds Zayn’s chin and directs him to go to his room. After the blow-jobs, the raven-haired man’s lips are now pumping and crimson red as if he is using lipstick.

Zayn complies.

Once they are both inside Liam’s room, the drunk actor rips open Zayn’s clothes and pushes him down on the bed. Everything is so overwhelmed that Zayn cannot do a thing besides staying silent and letting it happen the way Liam wants. Liam comes back to Zayn after he has taken out the lube and condom from the night drawer. Getting in between Zayn’s naked legs, the actor pulls his member out completely and begins staring at the stuntman’s trembling exposed body beneath him. From this angle, Zayn looks vulnerable and threatened like a little kitten instead of a proud black panther as usual. Liam really is enjoying this view.

“Spread your legs, Zayn.” Liam orders as Zayn is still trying to close his legs. The actor opens the lube bottle to take some in his fingers. The thick liquid drips down into Zayn’s bare thigh causing him to shiver a bit because of the sudden coldness. Liam puts his lubed up fingers at Zayn’s entrance and rubs it slowly. The stuntman quietly groans as the cold feeling invades his sensitive area. Zayn cannot restrain his whimpers in time as Liam suddenly penetrates his hole with rough fingers.

“Liam, stop.” The darker man holds on to Liam’s arms with his fingernails to interfere the alien objects moving in and out of his body continuously.

“You will like it, Zayn.” The actor leans down to whisper into Zayn’s ears and kiss his earlobes. “God, you’re gorgeous, Zee.” Liam’s movement causes Zayn’s thighs to unwillingly move further apart from each other and loosely wrap around the actor’s hips.

“It hurts.” Zayn gasps, his eyes are teary as they are looking at Liam.

“No, it doesn’t.” The actor keeps on sucking in and out of the man beneath him until he feels Zayn’s hole loosens up itself. Zayn can’t stop moaning in discomfort during that time because of the strange feelings.

“It’s showtime.” Liam confirms the action as he puts the condom on and uses some more lube to support the penetration.

Liam wants to turn Zayn’s body around to fuck him face down. As soon as Zayn is on his chest, all the old and new scars on Zayn’s back pierce through Liam’s eyes painfully. The actor hesitates a bit because the sudden feelings of pity surpass his mind. However, Liam quickly gets over those feelings and continues the fun. Liam gets in closer to Zayn’s lower body, his member searching for Zayn’s tight entrance. When Liam is moving into Zayn’s hole, the darker man groans in agony and grasps the mattress for support. All of Zayn’s muscles and neurons are pumping up and down relentlessly because the penetrating pain from the very end of his body is tearing him apart. Meanwhile, Liam loves watching Zayn’s back moves in rhythm every time he pushes in and out of him.

“Please, Liam, gently.” The stuntman sobs and lets out a raspy wail as if he is losing his voice.

“Beg for it, Zayn. I wanna’ hear your pleas.” Liam leaves a trail of kisses all over Zayn’s back as he is fucking him from behind.

“Please, stop it.” Zayn chokes in tears. “It’s fucking hurt.”

“I’m almost done. Just hang in there, gorgeous.” The actor keeps thrusting a few more minutes until he spills out some white liquid in the condom while he is still inside Zayn.

That night, Zayn sobs quietly in Liam’s bed, while the actor snores loudly until morning.

 

…


	19. Wildest Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam wakes up the next morning, full of remorse. Things are just more than what it seems to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so fucked up last time. So sorry for making you guys angry. Maybe I've lost a few readers after the last update. LOL. Liam's no good in the last chapter, but maybe this time it can be fixed.  
> Cheers.
> 
> P/S: I couldn't reply your comments because I was busy a bit. Also, all the comments are about hatred and anger towards Liam so I didn't know how to response... I apologize anyway. :"}

Liam wakes up the morning after with his head spinning around as a windmill.  He sits up and rubs his face with both hands. A stream of thoughts about the incident last night overtakes Liam’s mind as he slowly becomes more sober and aware of the surroundings. The image of Zayn writhing in agony under his fingertips is biting him back as the remorse overflows inside his mind.

Last night, Liam was drunk, and Zayn’s beautiful appearance was just too hard to resist. Liam wanted Zayn badly, but he did not know how to take him to his bed without the resistance. In his drunken state, Liam came up with some random perverted thought, which was to take advantage of Zayn’s penitence to have him under his control. Liam did not know why he wanted Zayn that much, this stupid desire had been inside Liam’s mind for the last few weeks, ever since he spotted Simon pinning Zayn against the wall outside the film set. The actor just wanted to have a taste of Zayn’s body for once, just to declare why men are attracted to him that much. Yesterday, Liam successfully got his final answer because the alcohol helped him find the courage to take action, but now he feels like a demon emerging from ravish-land. He is apparently no better than Simon, isn’t he?

How is Liam supposed to face Zayn now?

After a long period of time that feels like hours, Liam finally gets out of bed and takes a shower. He comes downstairs once he is fully dressed. Liam smells food, so he gets into the kitchen.

“You awake? I’m making some breakfast?” The raven-haired turns around to look at Liam, who is standing at the kitchen’s door, and then turns back to continue the cook. After the incident last night, Zayn must be scared and disgusted with Liam, maybe that is why he avoids looking at Liam.

“Uh, okay.” Liam comes closer and sits at the dining table to observe the stuntman from behind.

“If you want the eggs, I’ll fry some for you.” Zayn proposes, still not looking at Liam. However, Zayn’s voice is so calm as if nothing happened last night.

“Yeah.” The actor’s absent-mindedly answers. He seriously doesn’t know what else to say.

“You’ve got a hangover, right?” The stuntman asks with concerning tone.

“Yeah, kind of.” Liam tells the truth. The headache is killing him. But why does Zayn have to care about Liam’s well-being after all of that?

“I’ll make you some lemonade to get rid of it then.” Zayn simply says and keeps on preparing the breakfast.

Zayn is acting as if everything is perfectly normal, but Liam knows for sure everything has changed in their relationship. Right now, Liam seriously can’t get those dirty memories of last night’s incident out of his head. Every time he sees Zayn, he thinks back at the image of Zayn writhing and groaning beneath him.

After five more minutes, Liam, Zayn, and Niall are all sitting at the dining table and ready for the breakfast. Zayn and Niall have some small talks during the breakfast, while Liam just silently eats his own ration. However, Liam notices Zayn has a white bandage on his wrist, but the actor is too afraid to ask Zayn about that wound. It could be because of Liam that Zayn is injured.

The day goes by in a slow motion, and Liam realizes he cannot even look at Zayn’s eyes anymore because it will just remind him of those filthy images in his head and make him feel disgusted with himself. Liam is scared that those thoughts would make him do something wrong and stupid again. Honestly, Liam has no idea how long he can keep his dick in his pants because Zayn’s intoxicating scent is everywhere in this house.

“You frowned all day and didn’t say a word. Are you sick?” Zayn’s concerning tone makes Liam turns to look at him, the raven-haired man is now standing next to Liam’s couch.

“I’m alright.” Liam quickly turns back to look at the television, tries to hide his blush face.

“No, seriously, just tell me if you’re not feeling well.” Zayn steps closer and puts his hand on Liam’s forehead to check the fever. Zayn often checks Niall’s fever this way so it becomes a habit. However, as soon as Zayn’s fingers touch Liam’s hair, the actor jumps back and roughly brushes Zayn’s hand away. The stuntman looks at Liam with his eyes open wide in surprise.

“Sorry. I’m just worried.” Zayn sounds somewhat hurt because Liam has just refused his caring. The actor tries to open his mouth to say something, but the doorbell rings just as Liam is about to speak out. Liam’s just surprised by the sudden contact. He doesn’t mean to hurt Zayn’s feelings.

Zayn goes away to the main door to check who is outside. It is Harry Styles coming to visit them.

“Hey, how are you?” Harry excitedly hugs Zayn’s shoulder once he is inside the house. Zayn slightly hugs the taller man back, but it’s a little bit forceful. Liam is on the couch watching the scene.

“I’m okay. You come to see Liam?” Zayn asks and tries to let go of Harry because the latter is still soothing his back and shoulder blade nonstop.

“Nah, I come to check on both of you, and the little guy Nialler.” The long-haired actor finally sets Zayn free.

So, Harry stays for the dinner, which is prepared by Zayn. The actor can’t stop complimenting Zayn’s cooking skill, while the cook himself just shyly smiles. Zayn has to prepare the meal for himself from the very young age, so his cooking skill is just a long process of practicing and gaining experience. After the dinner, all four people in the house stay in the living room to watch Netflix together. During the show, Liam notices Harry can’t keep his hands to himself as he relentlessly touches Zayn whenever they discuss or give comments about the film. Liam dislikes seeing his fake boyfriend lets another man touch him like that, so his eyebrows can’t stop knitting together. Liam is fuming in silence.

Harry only leaves when the third episode of Daredevil 2 finishes at eleven past ten in the evening. Meanwhile, Niall has already fell asleep on Zayn’s chest. So Liam finally has the chance to open his mouth.

“What the fuck is that? You just let Harry flirt and lean into you like that and didn’t even stop him?”

“What do you mean?” Zayn’s round eyes are looking at Liam.

“You always let men touch you and even enjoy it yourself. That was why Simon couldn’t resist you. How dare you say that you’re not interested in them? Don’t be such a slut around me, Zayn. We are dating, fake, but still, so stop fooling around and leaning into those guys. You’re making me embarrass myself. What would people think if they see my so-called boyfriend being flirty with other men, huh?” Liam’s irritating tone is making Zayn heat up.

“What the hell, Liam? I thought you and Harry are best mates. You must know that the guy is always touchy-feely like that. I’m not the only one he’s treating that way. You must have seen him with Louis, they are even more intimate!” How can Liam say that Zayn is a slut, Zayn is far from being a slut.

“I don’t care about Louis, he’s not you!” Liam growls.

“Fuck, Liam. Just think whatever you want, I don’t give a shit anymore.” Zayn turns back to watch the film, not care to look at Liam anymore.

“Don’t turn away from me, Zayn! We’re not finished yet.”

“But I’m finished with you.” Zayn’s eyes are still on the TV screen.

Liam knows that he is being a jerk, but he can’t help it. He hates seeing Zayn with other men intimate. For the rest of the night, Liam and Zayn keep sitting next to each other in silence and watching Netflix together. It’s the fifth episode of Daredevil 2 when Liam opens his mouth again.

“Do you want me to bring Niall to bed?” Liam suggests, after Niall has been sleeping for like hours in Zayn’s chest, the raven-haired man’s laps must be numb now.

“Yeah, thanks.” Zayn is grateful for what Liam is proposing to him. After watching the film for hours, Zayn is now too lazy to bring Niall to bed any time soon. Also, his wrist is hurt so he might not be able to carry Niall upstairs on his own. Liam notices the stuntman’s eyes are all sleepy and tired already.

After bringing Niall to his room, Liam comes back to the living room. Zayn is leaning further into the couch to relax his back. The two continue to watch another episode of the series.

“Sorry for yelling at you.” Liam has been holding in this apology for the last hour, he feels relieved when he finally spits it out to Zayn. The stuntman does not reply, but he seems to be at ease after Liam apologizes to him.

“What could I do to make it up to you though?” Zayn suddenly asks after a few minutes.

“What?” Liam cannot get what Zayn is talking about.

“Last night, you said that there was something I could do to apologize to you about our past. Don’t’ you remember?”

Liam stays dumbfounded and looks at Zayn with confused eyes. The latter changes his sitting position a little bit straighter and explains further to Liam.

“Last night, you demanded an apology from me, so I said sorry. Then, you stood up from the couch and came to me, but you fell down and slept before I could hear an answer from you.”

“I did?” Liam raises his eyebrows in surprise.

“Yes, and I had to carry your heavy ass to your room upstairs. It was exhausting. I even hurt my wrist when I was dragging you up the stairs. That’s why I have the bandage on my wrist right now.” Zayn raises his hand up to his chest level to show Liam his wound.

What is Zayn talking about? He means Liam became unconscious and didn’t do anything after that?

“So, nothing happened last night?”

“What kind of thing?” Zayn confusedly stares at Liam.

“Like, what did I do after you brought me to bed?”

“You slept like a baby.” Zayn answers simply.

“Until the next morning?”

“Yes. I had to trip you off your clothes because I remember you often sleep with only the underwear on.” Zayn shows his annoyance with what he had to do for Liam last night.

Liam stays dumb. If what Zayn says is true, then what about Liam’s memories about last night? Liam remembers he forced Zayn to have sex with him. The actor sits in silence and immerses in his own thoughts. When he is back at reality, he only sees the young raven-haired man have already closed his eyes and slept safe and sound next to him. Liam calls Zayn’s name a few times, but there is no response. Knowing that Zayn is sleeping already, Liam goes find a blanket to cover for Zayn. When everything is settled, Liam sits down next to Zayn and observes the sleeping beauty. The actor has to fight back the urge to touch Zayn’s beautiful features. Liam turns off the lights and sits beside Zayn to watch the remaining part of the episode until he falls asleep as well.

Zayn jerks awake in the middle of the night just to find Liam sleeping right next to him, the TV screen is still on. Zayn feels a bit worried because Liam has been acting so strangely today. Is it because the hangover makes him feel sick? Suddenly, Zayn realizes someone has covered him with a blanket, that one could not be anyone else but Liam. Zayn has to wake Liam up so that they could go to their own room to get a proper sleeping position.

In the next morning, Liam and Zayn drive Niall to the kindergarten. Then, they both go to the studio of a magazine to do the photoshoot for Liam’s exclusive interview. During the shoot, Liam and Zayn have to act as if they really are dating. Luckily, everything comes out pretty natural. Even when the photographer asks Liam to hug Zayn from behind and kiss his earlobe, Liam does it comfortably and without any hesitation. Everyone says that Liam looks happier than usual, while the actor himself can’t tell the difference, even though he does feel so relieved because he has known that nothing happened between him and Zayn the other night.

All of his dirty memories are just a dream, the imagination of his drunken state and of his darkest desire. Liam is correct when he assumes that Zayn is making him lose his mind whenever he’s around.

  
...


	20. Cooking Is Caring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam dislikes how people think he’s the one chasing after Zayn, so he seeks for a way to change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new update. Have fun!  
> Cheers.

One more week has passed, now the film production starts again. Everyone at the film set congratulates Liam and Zayn on their official relationship. Liam always says thank with a bright and wide grin whenever he receives a happy wish from someone, while Zayn just brushes it away shyly with a small smile. Now everyone automatically assumes that Liam is in love with Zayn more than Zayn is with him, and the actor is the one chasing after the stuntman, not vice versa.

Liam is furious about the fact that people are talking more or less about his submission for Zayn. So now, Liam has just dragged Zayn out of the filming area and into his new private dressing room, and lectures him about how he should act around other people.

“You see the problem now? I’m being degraded by your indifferent attitude. At least show some interests when they ask you about me, Zayn.”

“You’re overthinking, Liam. No one thinks like that.” Even now, Zayn’s voice is less than enthusiastic. The stuntman doesn’t even look at Liam properly as they are having a serious conversation. He just focuses on his bubble tea.

“They do, Zayn! I heard it. They said something like,” Liam mimics the voice he heard. “Liam is the one that wants Zayn in the first place, that’s why he always acts aggressively with Zayn to make Zayn pay attention to him.” Then, he turns back to his normal voice. “What the fuck is that, huh? You’re supposed to be the one craving for my attention. Go do something to change their perspective!” The actor growls and sits down the couch angrily.

“People have their own right to think whichever way they want, Liam. You can’t make them believe otherwise.”

“The problem is you don’t show enough interest, so just act as excitedly as you can when we’re together. Then, they will think that we are both into each other.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Can you stop using that tone to talk to me every time we have a conversation? I know you hate me, but just control your anger a little bit if you don’t want to grow old faster than normal people do.” Zayn tiredly sighs and walks out of Liam’s dressing room.

“I’m not old! And why are you always the one that walks away from me? Don’t be excessively conceited in yourself that much, you’re just a fucking stuntman!” Liam shouts out from behind, but Zayn just impassibly shuts the door.

When Liam is doing some dangerous scenes later that day, Zayn stands outside to watch together with the film crew. Everything is perfectly normal until Liam accidentally gets hit hard by the other actors during some fighting scenes. Zayn finds himself startle at that. At the end, Liam is left with some bruises on his ribs. His lips are busted with a little bit of blood as well. The staff members and the medic quickly come to take care of Liam, while Zayn quietly observes the actor. Only when everyone has moved on and does their other tasks for the day, Zayn comes to check on Liam’s wounds.

“Hey.” Zayn greets. His eyes are on Liam’s red nose and busted lips.

“You’re supposed to be kissing me now, you know. I’m hurt.” Liam chuckles and sits on his chair to rest. People are still walking around them, preparing for another scene that will be coming up soon.

“I won’t do that.” Zayn sits beside Liam.

“I know.” Liam raises an eyebrow. “Your ego won’t allow you to do that.”

The two just sit together until they have to work again.

Later on the set, people are still talking about Liam and Zayn’s relationship in secret. However, Liam overhears the conversations a few times and is not completely happy with what they are saying or implying. In particular, when Liam finishes his cigarettes and tends to go back inside, he unintentionally hears Chris talking to Zayn in a not supportive attitude about the fact that Louis’ stuntman is dating Liam.

“Is it because of the fame that you agreed to date him? Because last time I saw you guys together, Liam was still hating you with all his guts, and you were not interested in him that much. Also, I have known you for like, four years, and never heard you mention having a crush on any guy, or even compliment a man before.” That is Chris’ doubtful voice on the other side of the exit door, and Liam is standing just at the other side of it, so he can listen quite well.

“It’s not about the fame, Chris. You know me better than that, don’t you?” Zayn seems annoyed by Chris’ assumption.

“We are friends, yes, but it doesn’t mean I can fully understand you.”

“Come on, Chris. Don’t act as if I’m betraying you or something. I can date whoever I want to, it can’t change who I am.” Zayn tries to sooth the tension in this conversation.

“You don’t get it, do you? If you’re really into guys, why don’t you tell me before? You keep lying to me. You should know that I don’t like hanging out with faggots.” The chocolate-skinned man snarls in disgust. Liam can’t help but feel indignant at Chris’ stupid choice of words.

“Chris, I didn’t know you are a homophobe.”

“Now you know. And are you going to admit that you’re dating Liam for his money and fame?” Chris continues to pressure Zayn.

“I—like Liam, genuinely.” Zayn feels his ears burn as saying out loud those words.

“Then why do you look so hesitant?”

“I—it’s,” Before Zayn could open his mouth to explain, someone opens the exit door.

“Zee, what’re you doing here?” Liam comes close to Zayn and possessively puts his hands on the shorter man’s hips. Zayn’s cheeks flush due to the intimacy Liam is giving him. He is still not used to being touched here and there by another man yet. Liam restrains his smirk as he notices the way Chris’ brows furrowed in annoyance.

“We’re just—talking.” Zayn tells Liam.

“So, you finish yet?” Liam pulls Zayn closer by wrapping his hands around the raven-haired man’s lower back. Zayn slightly nods. “Then come with me. Go grab something to eat. I’m starving.” Liam leads Zayn out of Chris’ sight.

When they are slowly moving, Liam turns his head back to smirk at Chris. The brown-skinned stuntman is taken by a small surprise. Meanwhile, Zayn obediently follows Liam to a Vietnamese restaurant near the film set, they each have a bowl of Pho and a cup of iced coffee for lunch. Now, when nobody is nearby, Liam and Zayn do not need to stay close. They sit at the opposite of each other and eat their meal without saying a word. However, Zayn seems uneasy during the meal, and it makes Liam’s appetite not as good as usual.

“You okay?” Just as Liam has almost finished his coffee, he loses his patience and asks Zayn.

“I’m fine.” Zayn answers without looking up at Liam. Half of Zayn’s Pho is still in the bowl.

“Chris’ words get in your nerves?”

“You heard it?” The stuntman finally looks up at Liam, his golden eyes look like they are sparkling.

“Of course. I was just outside the door. Why do you have to mind his stupid statements though?”

“Chris is my friend, Liam.” Zayn sighs wearily and puts down his chopsticks. “He helped me a lot when I was short of money.”

“But you guys don’t even speak to each other that much, do you? I haven’t seen you two together since we started the filming two months ago. Also, It can’t change the fact that he discouraged you of taking Niall in, and he just acted like a fucking homophobe and even accused you of being a gold digger. Someone like him doesn’t deserve to be your friend.” Liam seems to be fuming and Zayn finds it uncanny. Last time, Liam unexpectedly defended Zayn from Simon, and now he acts like he’s angry at Chris for Zayn’s sake. Why do Liam have to stand up for Zayn anyway? Even though things are less tense now, Zayn was his childhood enemy.

 

*

 

Tonight’s dinner is prepared by Zayn, instead of Liam’s maid, because the raven-haired man has nothing else to do, or simply because he wants to cook Liam something special today. Zayn cooks cheesy chicken pasta, Greek salad, and some mashed potato. When Liam gets out of the bathroom, the delicious smell of food wakes Liam’s senses and causes him to unconsciously drag his feet into the kitchen in order to find out the source of the scent.

“What are you doing?” The actor pretends not to know what Zayn is cooking for the dinner. Liam loves the chicken pasta so he recognizes the smell immediately when he enters the house.

“I’m cooking.” The raven-haired man does not need to look back to identify who is talking from the kitchen’s door. He keeps on putting the food on the plates.

Liam walks towards the cook with his eyebrows raised in curiosity. When the actor sees a bowl of some light yellow mixture, he chuckles contentedly. “You stalked me online, right? That’s why you know I like chicken pasta and mashed potato.”

Zayn blushes because Liam has just figured out his little secret, he is lucky Liam can’t see his face now. This afternoon, Zayn did do the research on Liam’s favorite dishes in order to cook him something special. The actor has been injured during the filming this morning, so he may need to gain back some energy because they will continue to work tomorrow morning. However, just like Liam said, Zayn will not give up his ego easily by admitting that he stalked Liam.

“Not exactly, the pasta is my favorite, and the mashed potato is for Niall.” The carefree answer from Zayn makes Liam irk and says nothing more, though it makes no sense for the actor to be irritated just because Zayn doesn’t mean to cook Liam’s favorites for him.

When the plates are full of food, Zayn brings them out to the dining table. He comes upstairs to call Niall for dinner. As soon as Zayn and Niall come back to the kitchen, Liam is already on his seat at the head of the rectangle table, checking the quality and the taste of food. Zayn pulls out a seat for Niall, which is on the left of Liam. Then, Zayn chooses to sit at the opposite of his son. The three start eating as Liam picks up his fork and spoon.

After the very first bit, Liam has no other choice but to admit Harry was right. Zayn’s cooking skill is amazing. The meal is delicate and Liam loves it, though he does not spill out a word. The actor just knows that he will make Zayn cook him dinner every day from now on, this will be considered as Zayn’s duty for living in his house.

“How’s the taste?” Zayn hopefully looks at Liam’s almost done pasta. The stuntman can’t wait to hear Liam’s feedback about his first-time cooking chicken pasta.

“It’s alright.” Liam gives an indifferent answer, but Zayn guesses Liam enjoys it because he has eaten two plates of pasta already.

“The food ingredients are not that expensive, so I often cook at home. If you eat at the restaurant, they will charge you double or triple over the real price.”

“Then you should cook for me more often.” Liam is still eating the rest of his food. It’s too late when Zayn realizes he has been smiling like a idiot at Liam’s proposal.


	21. Tenderness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is so normal now that Zayn almost forgets about all the traces of his past, until someone comes back to haunt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, prepare for the Ziam fluff.  
> Cheers.

The past few weeks were a total peaceful and easy time for Zayn, even though the paparazzi were still chasing after him and Liam all the time. Zayn feels like his life has finally been at ease at some points. The debt Perry left him is almost paid off thanks to the generous financial support from Mike. Niall does not get verbally attacked from other kids at school anymore due to Liam’s experienced advice. Now, Niall supports the thing his father has with Mr. Payne-in-the-ass, while at first the kid was very unhappy about it. Also, Zayn even finds himself feeling more and more comfortable with Liam’s touch day by day. Maybe Zayn is getting used to it, because there is nothing serious about that. However, whenever Zayn accidentally looks at Liam’s lips, it reminds him that Liam is the very first man kissing him on the lips.

“For real?” Liam’s face is filled with shock and he almost chokes on his fifth drink when Zayn confesses Liam is his first man-on-man kiss.

“Yeah. I don’t think I’m into man, you know, so I never tried it with them before.” Red is the exact color to describe Zayn’s cheeks right now. In a reckless moment during the chitty-chatty conversation between two mature men, Zayn unconsciously spills out his little first-time with Liam. Now, Zayn regrets telling Liam this thing so much that he just wants to hide in his room forever.

“Damn! At least that’s something I can take from you for a payback.” Liam jokes. “So how did it feel to kiss a man?”

“It was so fast, I didn’t even remember how it felt.” Zayn’s eyelashes move up and down mesmerizingly every time he blinks. His eyes trying to concentrate on Liam’s as both of the men are all weary due to the effect of the wine.

The raven-haired man leans back into the couch, it causes a few inches of his bare stomach to be exposed in front of Liam’s vision. The alcohol must be taking its effect because Liam suddenly feels heat rise from his groin and his head grows dizzy. It’s so uncomfortable that Liam has to adjust his sitting position to cover his growing bulge. Zayn’s gorgeous eyes are still looking at Liam’s despite all those distracting movements.

“Want to try it again?” Liam has no idea why he proposes that to Zayn, but inside he’s hoping for Zayn to agree with it.

“Try what?” Zayn’s mysterious and somewhat innocent eyes captivate Liam’s attention completely when he questions the actor’s suggestion.

“This.” It takes less than three seconds for Liam to lean towards Zayn. The actor only stops when his face is just inches away from Zayn’s, waits for the smaller man’s approval before moving forward.

The scene is interrupted by the ringtone of Zayn’s phone. Both men jerk away from the other in astonishment and embarrassment. They rub their face at the same time. Liam makes an excuse and leaves promptly, while Zayn reaches out for his phone on the table. Once Zayn finally picks up the phone, as a hunch, he feels uneasy with the unknown number appearing on the screen. It’s eight o’clock in the evening. Who will be calling Zayn at this time?

“Hello?” Zayn cannot resist the curiosity, so he answers the call.

“Zayn? Is that you?” A female voice speaks out from the other side of the call. It is too familiar to someone Zayn knew in the past, and it makes the drunkenness fly away from him immediately.

“Perry?” The stuntman swallows heavily.

“You haven’t changed the number, huh? It’s great.” Her voice is soft and clear and addicting in a way Zayn can’t even explain. That was one of the reasons Zayn fell for Perry in the first place.

“Why are you calling?” Zayn gets out of the house to have some privacy. He does not want anyone to hear this conversation.

“I just want to meet you in person. I have something that I need to tell you.”

Zayn takes time to consider what he should answer.

“I don’t think we should meet, Perry. There’s nothing to talk about.”

“It’s about Nialler, Zayn.” The sentimentality in Perry’s voice prevents Zayn from finishing the call.

“What about him?” Murmurs Zayn.

“Let’s meet up this Sunday, and we will talk about it.”

“You’re in LA?” Zayn’s tone is full of surprise, of course. He never thought he would see Perry again.

“Yes. I’ve been here for more than a year. It’s a shame we haven’t run into each other yet.”

“Just text me the address of our meeting place.” Zayn finishes off the call. All of his memories about Perry come back in mere seconds, and it makes his heart ache. The stuntman stands still for a long while until he gets back inside.

 

*

 

On Sunday morning, Zayn borrows Liam’s car and drives to the coffee shop downtown where he will be meeting Perry at ten. Once Zayn gets inside the meeting place, Perry is already sitting there, waiting for him. Her beautiful blonde hair looks soft and wavy as the last time Zayn see her, but this time it is longer and tied into a ponytail, which still looks good on her. Zayn hesitates a bit before lifting his feet towards Perry.

“Hey, long time no see.” She is greeting him with a small smile.

“Yeah.” Zayn sits down on the chair at the opposite of Perry.

“How are you, Zee?” The blonde reaches out for Zayn’s hand, which is put on the table, but the brunette slightly withdraws his hand.

“Fine. Guess you doing fine, too.” The cold tone of her ex makes Perry looks a little bit hurt. Zayn acknowledges that but this is the only way he can treat her after all she has done to him in the past.

“Zee.” Perry leans closer to the stuntman. “I read the news. They said you are dating Liam Payne, is that correct?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“I’m just a bit shocked. I didn’t know you are into guys. But if you’re happy with him, I’m happy for you.” The blonde gives Zayn a warm smile that he used to love so much.

“Why do you want to talk about Niall?” Zayn decides to cut to the main point.

“Uh, actually—,” Perry hesitates. “Niall’s biological father and I have been together again for more than a year. He’s living in LA, so I moved here with him. We talk about Niall and we all regret forsaking him. We truly want to have a chance to look after our son from now on.” She stops to wait for Zayn’s reaction, but the man just keeps a stoic expression so she continues. “I know I was so selfish. I made you your life difficult when I forced you to take care of Niall. It’s time for me to pay for what I did. Let me look after Niall and you will be free again. I promise I will—”

“Enough, Perry.” Zayn angrily hisses at the woman in front of him. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. Even if you’re feeling guilty and remorseful for what you did, I still won’t let you get Niall. His last name is Malik, Niall Malik. He’s _my_ son, Perry. Where have you been when he needs you? Right, I remember. You left him, a fucking two-year-old kid, in front of my apartment. The kid could have been hurt or kidnapped or something bad like that.”

“I know I’m a stupid person back then, Zee. I’m so sorry.” Perry’s nose and cheeks redden, and she breaks down in tears because Zayn’s sharp words are devouring her penitence.

“Don’t ever appear in front of me again, Perry Edwards. I don’t want you in my live anymore. You’ve broken my heart enough.” Zayn gets out of the coffee shop promptly after he finishes the sentence, leaving a sobbing Perry behind.

Once Zayn is behind the wheel, he silently cries to himself. He used to love Perry, she used to be all he had in his miserable life, but she did terrible something that he can’t forgive her. Maybe she deserves to have Niall back, because at the end, she is still his mother. However, Zayn’s selfishness does not allow him to give Niall up for Perry. Now, Niall is all Zayn has.

 

*

 

Recently, Zayn looks unpleasant, and it somehow bothers Liam as well. This whole thing started from the night Liam almost kissed Zayn. The actor can’t help but think whether it is because of him that Zayn is uncomfortable. The relationship between Liam and Zayn has just improved a step further, so the actor sincerely hopes he did not ruin everything just because of his little desire to kiss Zayn last time. To make things clear, after the dinner, Liam invites Zayn to go to the poolside for a few drinks. They are sitting on the poolside, literally. Their feet are in the water. Liam always enjoys the feeling of water floating and touching the skin of his legs.

“Are you upset with me?” After they have gulped down a couple of drinks, Liam opens the subject.

“No, Liam. Why do I have to be upset with you?” It’s true that something is bothering Zayn. His voice sounds coarse and raspy with tiredness.

“Last time we drank together, we almost—you know,” Liam clears his voice while Zayn is still eyeing him in confusion. “Kissed.”

“Oh.” Zayn startles a bit as he recalls what happened last Friday. “No, I don’t feel upset with you. It’s something else that wearies me.”

“Then, do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know, seriously. It sounds a bit too private. I don’t know if you have any interest in listening to it.” Zayn sighs, he sighs too much lately.

“Just tell me. You will feel better if you share your weariness to someone else.”

For a silence moment, Zayn just sits there and looks at the water. But then, he decides to tell Liam about Perry, and what she asked him in their awkward reunion three days ago. Zayn does not mean to plain, but he can’t hold back his frustration. The stuntman finishes his story and looks up with teary eyes. He spots Liam’s hazel eyes have been looking at him cordially since forever. Their heads are just a few inches away, the reason is because Liam leans closer to Zayn during the talk without being aware of it himself.

As Zayn’s eyes get wider and brighter in aghast but do not show any sign of disapproval, Liam decides to press their lips together. The raven-haired man stays passive, but when Liam sticks his tongue out to offer a deeper interaction, Zayn obediently parts his lips to let it through. The smell of alcohol controls the conscience of both men and makes them incapable of parting away from each other. Normally, Zayn would be disgusted with the thought of kissing a man. However, there is something about Liam that makes Zayn feel pleasant and safe and curious, so he cannot refuse the actor. Even when Liam unconsciously pins Zayn on the rough ground and eats his mouth passionately, the smaller man still enjoys the wet and hot penetration of their tongue.


	22. Get Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn unintentionally hurts Liam’s feelings, then he thinks of moving back to the old apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just don't kill me.  
> Cheers.

They stick together like chocolate and almonds during the lips connection. The water is still floating into the lower half of Zayn’s legs as Liam is dominating above him. The stronger man takes a hold of Zayn’s hips and keeps him down. Zayn can’t even move an inch due to the strong grips. Liam rubbing his lower body into Zayn’s own, it makes the heat releases throughout both of their body. Liam’s lips split from Zayn in order to move to his ear, his neck, and the spot between his neck and shoulder. The actor leaves kiss marks everywhere he goes. While doing so, Liam’s rough hands pull Zayn’s t-shirt up to expose his sensitive skin. The two little peas on Zayn’s chest are already hard as Liam’s fingers pinch them naughtily.

“Liam.” Zayn swallows hard and begs Liam to make him feel good. The sexual tension grows inside of both of them.

The actor is more aroused thanks to Zayn’s moans. Liam’s tongue attacks the stuntman’s sensitive nipples and bites them playfully. The feeling of Liam’s tongue on his chest sends a shiver down Zayn’s spine and makes him squirm as a vibrator. Liam puts a hand onto Zayn’s curled back and holds him closer to him. When Liam moves his other free hand from Zayn’s hip down to the stuntman’s crotch, Zayn feels his member twitch slightly. Liam gently separates the raven-haired man’s thighs and gets in between. The act makes Zayn’s legs slightly separate from the pool water. Liam carefully lowers his fingers to touch the hot entrance of Zayn’s, but the gesture causes something Liam doesn’t expect.

Zayn suddenly pushes the bigger man away, while his eyes open wide in terror.

“Zayn? What’s wrong?” Liam is confused as Zayn is looking at him as if he is a beast.

“Li—Liam, I’m sorry.” Zayn shuts his eyes in relief, as he is aware that the man above him is Liam, not the other ones. His voice is full of guilt as he realizes that he has just hurt Liam’s feelings. “I’m just—, not now, Liam.” Zayn moves his body to gets out of Liam’s embrace. The stuntman promptly runs away and leaves Liam with his confusion and the harden member inside his jeans.

The only way to get those thoughts out of Liam’s mind is to drink as much wine as he could after Zayn left. That is why Liam gulps down three bottles of wine and can’t even sit straight after half an hour.

When Zayn is finally in his room, he wraps himself with the blanket and can’t stop thinking about what his foster father and Simon Cowell did to him. There have been so many times the stuntman just wants to peel his skin off so that the feelings of those men’s hands on him will vanish forever. As the actor touched Zayn there, he feels disgusted, not with Liam, with himself. Zayn is scared of doing that thing with another man, even if it is with Liam.

 

*

 

“Zayn must hate me now, Harry.” Liam frustratingly whimpers and hides his face in his arms as he is leaning on the bar counter. It’s been three days and Liam still can’t open his mouth to ask Zayn why he declined him the other night. Liam must have done something bad that horrified Zayn.

“Maybe he’s just not ready for it yet, Liam. You guys are just making up and getting to know each other now. Zayn may think it’s still too soon to move further and do that kind of thing. Just like Louis, he doesn’t even let me kiss him yet, though we’ve been hanging out for like, two weeks.”

“You’re with Louis now?” This information makes Liam startle a bit. According to Liam’s observation, Louis is an arrogant bitch, who always likes being in charge. Liam never sees him date guys that are wild and self-confident like Harry, because this type of men won’t allow Louis to show off his dominant side.

“Yeah. I would enjoy being in bed with him, the boy is more obedient and submissive than he looks like. That’s very interesting.” Harry always chuckles and stares blankly ahead every time he thinks of something dirty, Liam is sure about it.

“Good for you.” Liam ignores it anyway. Harry’s love line is none of Liam’s business.

“No, seriously. Just be more patient with Zayn, he need time to fall for you, you know. Zayn seems to be the type that won’t let his heart be conquered that easily.”

Liam wearily stares at Harry, and all he can see is Zayn’s terrified expression yesterday. The actor has a few drinks with Harry before going home by a taxi. When Liam gets inside at his house, it’s already two in the morning. The actor clumsily climbs upstairs to go to his room. However, when he surpasses Zayn’s room, he decides to go in there instead of his own room.

In the middle of the night, Zayn is awake due to the sound of his door opened. Zayn looks at the door and spots someone is approaching him like a drunk who can’t even walk properly. Zayn quickly recognizes it is Liam. The actor must have had some alcohol in him while hanging out with his friends. Liam is always bad at controlling his actions, Zayn hopes he didn’t drive home on his own.

“Why are you not in your room, Liam?” Zayn sits up to face the drunken actor.

Liam goes straight to Zayn’s bed and hugs him tightly from the front. The stronger man pushes Zayn down onto the mattress and stays above him. Zayn finds it hard to breathe due to the weight of Liam’s whole body pressing onto him.

“Liam, I can’t breathe.”

“Let me stay with you,” Liam begs, like a little lost puppy. “Please.”

Zayn feels guilty for hurting Liam the other night, so he lets Liam stay on his bed with the actor’s hands wrapping around him like white on rice. Liam’s face is pressed against Zayn’s neck, so the latter can feel Liam’s trimmed beard tickle the sensitive area of his skin. Liam’s hot breath is also spreading around his neck and shoulder. It makes Zayn shiver with goose bump.

“You still hate me, Zayn?” The actor suddenly asks. His voice is harsh and sounds like a whisper in the dark.

“I don’t hate you. Why do you keep asking that question?”

“Last night, you turned me down. You say you don’t hate me, then why?” Zayn can feel Liam’s fingers are tightening the grips on his arms.

“I wasn’t ready for it, Liam. I didn’t expect things to happen like that.” Zayn turns his head away from Liam, even though he knows the actor will not be able to see his face from that angle.

“What about now?” The puppy-like eyes look up to seek for Zayn’s eyes.

“No, Liam. You’re being needy. I’m totally not in the mood.” The raven-haired man turns back to look down at Liam. He gently rubs Liam’s short hair between his fingers. “Go to sleep, Liam. I’m tired.”

“I’m tired, too.” The childlike actor mumbles and closes his eyelids.

“Get off me first. I can’t breathe, seriously. I won’t be able to stay alive until morning in this condition.” Zayn slightly pushes Liam away. The latter complies, but he still holds on to Zayn’s body once he has got off him.

 

*

 

In the next morning, Zayn decides to pack some of his and Niall’s stuff to bring them back to the old apartment. After an hour, Zayn has moved all of his and Niall’s stuff from the car back into the apartment. Many of their things are still at Liam’s house. The landlord looks more than happy when he sees Zayn today, while he used to use the annoyed and irritated look to eye Zayn before he knows the stuntman is Liam Payne’s boyfriend.

Actually, Zayn did want to tell Liam his intention of moving back to his old apartment two days ago, but he could not find the right chance to tell him yet. Therefore, Zayn decides to move some of his things back here first, and he will tell Liam later this afternoon. Zayn has thought about moving out of Liam’s place after the incident at the poolside a few days ago. Zayn notices that the actor seems to be more and more attached to him, while Zayn doesn’t know if he could response to Liam’s feelings properly. Also, what if Liam is disappointed and unhappy after he figures out more inconsonant things about the raven-haired man? Zayn truly does not want to disappoint Liam in any other way, so Zayn’s moving would be the better choice for both of them.

After the last checkup, Zayn turns off all the electric devices and turns to the main door. However, when he is about to open the door, he detects that the door knob is loose as if someone opened the door but forgot to close it properly. Zayn blames himself for being careless when closing the door, but when a hand wraps around his mouth and drags him back to the bedroom, Zayn ascertains that it was not his fault. The stuntman uses all his strength to strike back against the one, definitely a man, who is holding him from behind, but nothing comes to release him from this misery. Zayn tries to scream for help but no sound comes out of his mouth loud enough for anyone outside to notice.

“Zaynie, Zaynie. Long time no see. You still look stunning as always.” This voice Zayn knows. It belongs to Simon Cowell.

“Fuck off!” Zayn is dying to bite Simon’s fingers and spits on him. Unfortunately, he cannot even escape the hand on his face.

“Easy, easy, caramel cake.” Simon squeezes Zayn’s hair and kisses his earlobes messily.

The raven-haired man bestirs even more excruciatingly after feeling Simon’s disgusting mouth on him. Zayn’s head knocks back at Simon’s nose, which causes him to go wild and tightens his grip on Zayn’s hair in order to smash the younger man’s forehead against the wall nearby brutally. Zayn goes flaccid as blood coming down all over his face.

“I told you to take it easy. Why don’t you listen, darling? You never listen.” Simon pushes Zayn down on the bed and the younger man quivers with every attempt he makes to escape the attacker.

“Liam.” Zayn unconsciously whimpers the actor’s name, and it triggers Simon’s devilish side to come out faster.

“How dare you let Liam touch you, Zayn? How can you date him, that fucking punk, really? He ruined my career, my reputation! Though there is nothing more than some stupid video clips, people still have doubts about me and they don’t look at me with all due respect as they did before. It’s all because of Liam fucking Payne! If you’re really his now, then I will take what belongs to him and ruin it before giving it back to him.” Simon ties Zayn up with his belt and gags his mouth with the t-shirt he has just taken off of Zayn’s upper body.

 

*

 

At ten and a half, Liam wakes up and sees himself sleeping alone in Zayn’s room. The actor stays in bed to recall what happened last night. He only gets out of bed fifteen minutes later and takes a shower before going downstairs. Once Liam is in the living room, watching superheroes cartoon together with Niall, he asks the kid where Zayn is.

“Zapi has to bring some of our stuff back to the old apartment. It’s been more than a month and we don’t get chasing after by the reporters anymore, so Zapi thinks it will be more convenient for you if we move back there. I don’t really want to go because you’ve got tons of video games and big TV screen here, but Zapi wants to so I will have to go with him.” Niall explains and turns back to watch the cartoon.

“He really wants to move back there?” Niall’s answer gives Liam chill, and he doesn’t even know he’s speaking too much louder than usual.

“Yes, he has talked about it with me for a few days.” The blonde is startled by Liam, so he turns to look at the older man.

Liam picks up his phone and dials Zayn’s number to have a talk with him. The actor is angry and upset at the same time because Zayn did not say anything to him about his moving out. After the fifth attempt to call Zayn, Liam is frustrated and decides to go find him himself.

“Where is your apartment, Nialler?” Liam questions the kid.

 

…


	23. Road to Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is a knight in shining armour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's the end of the road. Thank you for all the support during the time I write this story.  
> I'm working on another Ziam project, and I'll update it as soon as I finish.  
> Cheers.

Right at the moment Liam and Niall walk up to Zayn’s apartment, the actor notices that Zayn’s door is slightly opened. Without knocking on the door or calling for the stuntman’s name, Liam steps inside to seek for Zayn, Niall follows him just a few steps behind. Footprints are everywhere on the floor, maybe the dirt has taken over this place because Zayn has abandoned it for too long. The actor walks around to observe the place Zayn has been living the last few years, while Niall just sits down on the couch in the living room, waiting. This apartment is so much smaller than what Liam has imagined. As a whole, it is just as large as Liam’s living room. The brunette actor goes towards the bedroom when hears some weird noises escaping from there.

Just as Liam steps to the bedroom’s door, he sees a disturbing scene happening in front of his eyes. A much bigger man is forcing Zayn down on the mattress, his strong hand tightly grabs the back of the smaller man’s neck to keep him in place. Zayn’s wrists are tied up by a thick black belt, the shirt on his upper body is already ripped off, and half of his ass-cheeks are exposing as the attacker is lowering his black jeans violently.

“The fuck, Simon? Get off of him!” Liam jumps to rescue Zayn. He roughly grasps the director’s shirt and drags him to the floor. Liam’s knuckles hit Simon’s face multiple times until blood coming out of his nose and mouth. The older man fights back and successfully knocks some punches into Liam’s face, but it’s nothing compared with the hits Liam has received from the other boxers he used to train with.

“Don’t fucking come near Zayn again, Cowell! Or I will castrate you myself!” Liam is done with Simon once the man is barely conscious on the ground.

The actor gets up to check on Zayn. The raven-haired man is lying face down on the bed, making small noises as if he is in pain. The actor fastens when he undoes Zayn’s tied wrists and the gags in his mouth. Zayn quivers and quietly groans in pain due to the movements.

“Zayn.” The actor calls, waits for Zayn’s response. “You okay?”

“I’m good.” The raven-haired man uses his hands to support himself as he sits up. He pulls his jeans back on to cover his exposed lower body. When Zayn turns around, Liam spots the injury on his forehead causes blood to come out.

“You’re bleeding, Zayn.” The actor’s hand reaches out to check Zayn’s wound, but the stuntman gently pushes it away.

“Let’s get out of here.” Zayn suggests and Liam holds the smaller man’s arm to help him stand up, but Zayn jerks away abruptly. “Nialler?” Zayn is astonished as he sees his son standing tearfully on the doorway. The kid must have witnessed the whole scene and is completely scared right now.

“Zapi, what just happened?” The kid goes straight to his father and hugs his legs tightly. Zayn bends down to caress his son.

“I’m sorry for making you see that.” Zayn comforts the blonde kid by stroking his back gently.

“Did he hurt you? The director?” Niall whimpers, his voice cracks as if he is sobbing on his father’s shoulder.

“I’m alright now, Ni. Just get out of here and forget all of this, okay?”

The actor is dying to comfort Zayn, but he cannot interrupt the father-and-son scene at the moment. When Zayn slowly steps out of the apartment with Niall’s hand on his. Liam quickly goes after them as a bodyguard. During the trip home, neither Liam nor Zayn says anything. Once they arrive at Liam’s house, the stuntman brings Niall to his room and stays with him until the kid finally calms down and sleeps. Zayn comes back to his room when Niall has slept for more than half an hour.

With all of his courage and determination, Liam is now standing in front of Zayn’s room, he knocks on the door and only opens it after receiving an allowance from the stuntman.

“How is the wound?” The actor gingerly asks and slowly approaching the smaller man, who is cleaning his face with a warm towel.

“It’s okay.” The tiredness in Zayn’s voice makes Liam feel uneasy.

“Let me help you.” Seeing all the dry blood on Zayn’s face, Liam just hopes he could have killed Simon himself back at the apartment.

“I can do it myself, Liam.” Zayn is avoiding making eye-contact. He must be still in shock and horror after what Simon has almost done to him.

“Zayn, please. I want to help you.” The actor steps closer. His puppy eyes are full of concern, they cause Zayn to feel safe and more relax. When Liam takes the towel from Zayn’s hands, the latter does not protest.

The actor gently leads Zayn to sit on the bed. Then, he carefully observes the stuntman’s face to check for damage on it. Blood and sweat are all over Zayn’s face. Some of the blood are dry already so it is a little bit hard to clean up. It takes more than fifteen minutes for Liam to remove all the blood from Zayn’s profile.

“Give me a second, I’ll go take the first-aid kit.” Liam gently touches Zayn’s hair and goes downstairs to find the necessary. He comes back after a few minutes with a box in his hands. The actor takes care of Zayn’s wound meticulously. Boxing and training are what Liam does daily, so he knows how to treat these kinds of injury properly without going to see the doctor.

“Do you need to take some rest? I’ll let you alone if you want.” Zayn’s tired expression is making Liam worry. Even though the actor truly wants to stay beside Zayn, he will just leave if Zayn wants him to. The raven-haired man looks up to face Liam, and he suddenly leans forward to hug the actor tightly. Liam can feel Zayn’s whole body is shivering in fear as he kneels on the floor in front of Zayn to hug him back easier.

Zayn never cries in front of anyone, no one, but now he bursts out into tears on Liam’s shoulder like an infant. Liam does not know how to react, so he strokes Zayn’s back just like the way Zayn did with Niall back then. The stuntman only calms down and stops sobbing after half an hour. When Zayn lets go of Liam, the actor’s shirt is all wet on the left shoulder due to the smaller man’s tears. Zayn’s eyes are all red and swelled up as Liam searching for his attention.

“Feel any better?” Liam softly questions, his palms embrace the raven-haired man’s face to brush away the wetness on his red cheeks.

Zayn nods and looks down on the floor.

“Take some rest, Zayn.”

“No, Liam. I just want your company now.” Zayn clutching Liam’s shirt eagerly with both of his trembling hands as the actor intends to stand up from his kneeling position.

“Okay. I’m all free for you.” The actor lowers his hands from Zayn’s arms to rest on his slim hips.

They stay like that for a while before Liam gets on Zayn’s bed to have a better position during their conversation. Seeing Liam’s care for him, Zayn feels like he needs to get all the deep down secrets and feelings out of his system right now, or else, he will just keep on holding them in and let them grow into a tumor so they will kill him later someday. What Zayn has no idea about is the reason why he has just spilled out all of his incidents with Simon and his foster parent to Liam, not to someone else.

“I’m glad you tell me about what you have been through.” Liam’s sincere eyes looking straight at Zayn after the stuntman has finished telling the story of his life to him.

However, Zayn’s story just makes Liam feel a lot worse, because the actor realizes he is one of the factors that has made Zayn’s life a living hell. Liam is unbeknownst to Zayn’s life so he always blames him for everything that happened to him in the past. He accuses Zayn of being a slut. He accuses Zayn of taking advantage of Simon while it should be the other way around. Liam is so blind and stupid in his own hatred towards Zayn and forgets to analyze the whole picture.

 

*

 

A few weeks later, Zayn and Niall are still living at Liam’s place because the actor asks them to stay as long as they want. Liam doesn’t want Zayn and Niall to come back to their apartment, that place is now a total mess after what Simon attempted to do to Zayn last time. Also, in comparison to before, the stuntman seems to be more comfortable and carefree now as if he has forgot about all those bad memories with Simon. Seeing Zayn like this, Liam is more than happy for him.

Now, both men are swimming in the pool to relax a bit after a long day at work. Actually, only Liam is swimming. Zayn just sits on the poolside with the swimming trunks Liam gives him before they go to the pool, the reason is because the raven-haired man is an aquaphobic and cannot swim. The closest distance to the water that Zayn can approach is to sit on the poolside and hangs his legs loosely to enjoy the cold water. Liam tries to accost Zayn to get inside the pool several times but fails miserably.

“You really just sit there? Like a cat's scared of water?” Liam teases as he is in the middle of the eight foot deep pool.

“Say whatever you want, Liam. I’m not getting into the water.”

“You should try to defeat your fear, you know. Swimming is useful, you should learn.” The actor swims towards Zayn and stops when his hands touch the wall of the pool right next to where Zayn is sitting.

“I don’t like it.”

“Just get in the water for a few seconds. It feels great. If you don’t like it I will bring you out.”

“You’re so annoying, Li.”

“But you like it when I beg you to do something with those puppy eyes, don’t you?” The actor looks up at Zayn with hazel eyes and teases Zayn by getting in between his legs. Zayn has to slightly parts his thighs so Liam can fit in.

“Shut up!” The stuntman chuckles. That look is killing Zayn, so he splashes water into Liam’s face to break the eye-contact.

“C’mon, Zee!” Using his strong grips on Zayn’s hips, Liam succeeds in dragging the smaller man into the water and keeping him floating on the water surface. Zayn’s eyes look terrified at the sudden movement of Liam so he wraps the back of the actor’s neck and his shoulder to hold on in order to keep away from drowning.

“Let me out of the water, Liam!” Zayn blurts out anxiously, while Liam looking at him mischievously.

“Relax, Zee. Feel it. Feel the cold water drift slowly through your skin.” Liam breathes on Zayn’s lips when their faces are only inches away, his hands playfully lower to touch the thin fabric on the raven-haired beauty’s ass-cheeks.

“It’s terrifying, Liam. I can’t fucking swim.” Zayn continues to protest, but his body no longer flounders in utter disorder.

“Just hold on to me, Zee.” Liam gently calms the smaller man down as leading him back to the wall of the pool. When Zayn has finally reached the poolside, he gasps for air. The stuntman’s body is still in the water, but he feels more comfortable now because Liam is right behind him. Liam’s muscled chest is on Zayn’s back, and the raven-haired man murmurs Liam’s name as he feels the other man’s rock hard member pressed into his ass.

“Zayn, don’t stop it this time.” The actor lets out as he gently caresses Zayn’s bulge to stimulate him. The stuntman decides to not interfere the bigger man’s action, he even leans into the touch, then presses his lower body back into Liam’s crotch. They both groan in arousal during the sexual intimacy.

When Liam removes both of his and Zayn’s trunks to boost the sensitivity of their skin contact, Zayn slightly turns his head to kiss the stronger man. The kiss is messy, but it tastes good in Liam’s opinion. After Zayn has parted his lips away, Liam leaves a trail of kisses on the darker man’s neck and shoulder. The actor’s hands can’t stop touching Zayn during the process.

“I want to be inside you, Zee. I want us to be as close as we can.” The actors whispers enticingly as he bites Zayn’s jaw.

“Then take me.” The raspy answer gives Liam a fountain of lust. Taking no more time, Liam moves his hand to Zayn’s hole and stimulates it with his experienced fingers. Zayn is unease at first, but due to the gentleness of Liam, and the feeling of cold water massaging his little hole, Zayn finally gives in and relaxes his entrance. After what feels like hours, Liam is finally sure that Zayn’s hole is ready for his member.

“Are you ready, Zayn?” The actor puts his arms around the smaller man’s body, his hands hold Zayn’s chest and lower stomach to support both of their weight on the water surface. Zayn swallows before giving a slight nod. Liam smiles on Zayn’s skin as he takes time to guide his hard member into Zayn’s body. The stuntman gasps in pain and squeezes Liam’s arms to support himself, his head leaning back and his upper body twists around to distract himself from the forming agony.

“Liam...” Zayn gasps open his mouth to call the actor.

“I’m almost in, Zee.” It takes a few more minutes for Liam to completely get inside of Zayn. The stuntman breathes heavily and seeks for the actor’s kisses when his inside is now full of Liam. Liam begins to move up and down, in and out Zayn’s entrance once he has made sure the raven-haired man is alright with the alien object in between his ass. The penetration makes Liam feel like his mind is going to explode soon due to the exceeding excitement.

On the other hand, beside the sharp pain, Zayn is now out of his mind because of the pleasure he has never felt before when he was being penetrated by other men. It must be because Liam is good at making love, or because the flow of water, together with Liam, is penetrating Zayn at the same time. It feels so great that Zayn cannot process anything else right now. All Zayn wants now is Liam making him cum. After Liam finishes inside of Zayn, a few more minutes later, Zayn’s wish comes true as well.

They both gasp for air after sex with Liam’s chin resting on Zayn’s shoulder.

“Shit! We forgot the condom.” Liam suddenly remember the important thing.

“I didn’t even think about it.” Zayn is a little bit startled at the information. He never thinks he is clean and yet he forgot about the safety code for sexual intercourse.

“It’s okay. Just remember it next time, yeah?” Liam chuckles slightly when he kisses Zayn’s lips, the latter kisses him back passionately until they are both out of air.

“Let’s go to bed.” The stuntman suggests and puts his hands on the ground to get out.

“For another round?” The actor’s brows raise in excitement.

“The fuck? No, for sleeping.” Zayn gently pushes the other man away and gets out of the pool.

“So, you are gonna sleep in my room, right?” The bigger brunette follows. He hugs Zayn from behind after he has caught up with the darker man.

“Fuck, we’re still naked, Liam!” Zayn realizes that as he feels Liam’s dick pressed into his thigh.

“Ha. Just get into my room quick and we’ll be fine. Niall’s asleep already. When we cuddle, I want to be the big spoon, Zee.”

“Whatever, just hurry up!” Zayn drags Liam inside and go straight to the latter’s room.

 

  
**THE END**


End file.
